McCarthy Clinches Speakership by the Skin of His Teeth – By Kaia Hubbard (US News) / Jan 7, 2023
After a marathon week of voting unlike any speaker election since the Civil War, Kevin McCarthy secured the speaker’s gavel.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the House early Saturday, after a grueling days-long fight laid bare the divisions between parties – and within his own – in a dismal foreshadowing of the legislative process under the GOP majority in the next two years.
The California Republican succeeded in swaying remaining holdouts to clinch the votes that appeared out of reach just days ago when ballot after ballot yielded almost no progress in a marathon week of voting unlike any speaker election since the Civil War. But on Friday morning, the tide began to shift for McCarthy, after negotiations earlier in the week progressed toward a deal, earning him 216 votes to secure the gavel in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
“That was easy,” McCarthy joked as he delivered remarks to lawmakers, who were finally sworn in at 1:40 a.m. Saturday.
“You know, my father always told me – it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy went on. “And now we need to finish for the American people.”
