Republican Kevin McCarthy Elected US House Speaker

During contentious debates that nearly resulted in blows between Republican Party members, Kevin McCarthy has been elected as the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Despite his party having a majority in the parliament, it took McCarthy 15 rounds of voting to gain the position.

The dramatic lobbying campaign to get party dissident Matt Gaetz to vote for McCarthy took place live on the House floor before it happened.

The congressman from Florida was one of six skeptics who caved late on Friday.

Rep. Mike Rogers, a supporter of McCarthy, and Gaetz had previously engaged in heated exchanges in the chamber and nearly exchanged blows. The congressman from Alabama yelled and jabbed his finger at Mr. Gaetz, and his colleagues had to physically detain him.

The Speaker controls legislative action and establishes the House's agenda. After the US Vice President, the position is second in line for the Presidency.

Following his confirmation, McCarthy expressed the following on Twitter: "I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. And I will never give up for you, the American people."

US President Joe Biden praised Kevin McCarthy for his victory and expressed his eagerness to work with the Republican Party.

He stated, "The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs above all else, and that is what we need to do now."

Republicans have already promised to start looking into Mr. Biden's government and family business dealings.

In a stunning change of events, Mr. McCarthy was successful in convincing 14 Republican holdouts to vote for him in the 12th round of voting. The thirteenth ballot was followed by a fifteenth rebel.

McCarthy asserted to reporters that he would "have the votes" to win the speakership in the subsequent round after the 13th voting was called off.

The California congressman once again lost on the 14th ballot, this time falling three votes shy of the 217 votes required to capture the coveted gavel.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus were among the dissidents, and they contended that Mr. McCarthy is not conservative enough to lead them as they strive to thwart Democratic President Joe Biden's plan.

Mr. McCarthy has made a number of concessions to the rebels, including a position on the powerful rules committee that determines how legislation is discussed in the chamber.

The Republican alliance might easily splinter once more even after Mr. McCarthy's success because he also agreed to lower the bar for calling a vote on whether to remove the Speaker to only one House member.

The House floor erupted in cheers as Ryan Zinke, a lawmaker from Montana, cast the final vote, signaling that Mr. McCarthy had finally won.

McCarthy gave other lawmakers hugs and autographs while the Democratic side of the room remained utterly silent. No democrats cheered.

Senior Democratic Party legislators compared the standoff to the riot on Capitol Hill precisely two years ago by Trump supporters who disrupted Mr. Biden's certification as President and accused Mr. McCarthy of handing control to a radical wing of his party.

Congressman Eric Swalwell posted on Twitter that "Two years ago insurrectionists failed to take over the Capitol... Tonight Kevin McCarthy let them take over the Republican Party."

Don Beyer, a congressman from Virginia, also recalled the irate Republican reactions after the 14th count.

He termed it as "Unsettling that this process ends in threats of violence in the House Chamber, on this of all days." Boyer added, "Maybe it didn't determine the outcome, but that is no way to conduct the people's business. A dark and sobering moment will probably be remembered long after this session ends."

The minority Democrats had persisted in supporting their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the first black person to ever head a political party in Congress.

The first day that Mr. McCarthy's vote total exceeded Mr. Jeffries' was Friday.

"That was easy, eh?" Kevin McCarthy joked in the opening of his acceptance speech. He listed a number of Republican policy goals, such as reducing costs, safeguarding the US-Mexico border, and combating what he called a "woke indoctrination."

He stated that stopping "wasteful Washington spending" was one of his major priorities.

Around 2:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Saturday, 14 hours after the gavel initially rang at midday, the lawmakers started to leave the Congress.

The lower chamber of Congress has not voted this many times to choose a speaker since 1860, during the lead-up to the American Civil War. There were 44 rounds of ballots back then.