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McCarthy finally won the speaker’s gavel after historic 15 rounds of voting.
Kevin McCarthy elected Speaker of the House
The House Republican leadership standoff ended early Saturday morning with Kevin McCarthy winning the speaker’s gavel on a historic 15th vote..
It was the longest such election since 1859.
The drama stretched into a fourth day Friday with three more failed votes to decide on a speaker after 11 others over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday — the last one ending in a heated one-vote loss at the hands of holdout Matt Gaetz.
McCarthy had been stymied by a small group of hardliners demanding concessions to reshape how the House is run and legislation it prioritizes.
The House is adjourned until 5 p.m. Monday.
Members were advised by GOP Whip Tom Emmer’s office that the consideration of the rules package was postponed until Monday.
The rules package will outline how the chamber will run. A summary of the package released Friday included a key concession from McCarthy to his GOP detractors on the motion to vacate, allowing just one member to force a vote of no confidence to potentially oust the speaker.
McCarthy’s offer to his Republican opponents earlier this week included putting more House Freedom Caucus members on the influential House Rules Committee, and pledging votes on pieces of legislation that the caucus members have been pushing for, including a bill on term limits for lawmakers and a bill on border security.
