The party failed to elect its president to the House of Representatives, while a Trumpist revolt deemed the favorite, Kevin McCarthy, too dovish.
That hadn’t happened for 100 years: The elected members of the American House of Representatives ended their session on Tuesday without being able to elect a president. Strong tensions in the ranks of the Republicans plunged Congress into uncertainty.
50-year-old Kevin McCarthy, the big favorite to succeed Nancy Pelosi, had failed after three consecutive votes to calm the revolt emanating from a group of Trumpists who felt the chosen one was too moderate. Elected officials agreed to suspend their voting until Wednesday morning, the time to negotiate behind the scenes.
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Republicans, who won a majority in the House of Commons in November’s election, had promised to use their new countervailing power by launching a series of investigations into US President Joe Biden. But the initiation of such hostilities is paralyzed by these internal squabbles: the elected members of the House of Representatives cannot officially take the oath and therefore cannot investigate until a president has been appointed.
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A majority of 218 votes is required
The election of the “Speaker”, the third most important figure in American politics after the President and Vice President, requires a majority of 218 votes. A threshold Kevin McCarthy failed to reach after twenty elected Trumpists decided to play spoilsport. “We shouldn’t take it personally, but the future of our country depends on it,” said Chip Roy, a tumultuous Texas elected official.
However, Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy has broad support within his party: the announcement of his nomination in the Chamber on Tuesday was met with great applause from the Republican ranks. Some anger emerged early in the third round as the more moderate Republicans urged their peers to line up around Kevin McCarthy. “We came here to get things done,” said Republican leader Steve Scalise, to which the Democrats laughed.
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During this process, Joe Biden’s party has since united around Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries’ candidacy and regularly applauds the New York City official-elect to the strains of “Hakeem, Hakeem, Hakeem!” But the chosen one also doesn’t have enough votes to get on the pole. The election of a Speaker of the House of Representatives can be a matter of a few hours…or several weeks: in 1856, the elected members of Congress took two months and 133 ballots to reach an agreement.
Kevin McCarthy seems to want to make promises to this conservative fringe group so that history doesn’t stutter: in 2015 he narrowly failed in a slingshot from the party’s right wing as speaker of the House of Representatives. But he can’t afford to go overboard and alienate moderate Republicans. Although its room for maneuver is limited, it currently has no credible competitor. Only the name of the officer elected in Ohio, Jim Jordan, is circulating as a possible alternative, without his chances appearing serious.
Boon for Biden?
Since the Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives, Joe Biden and the Democrats will not be able to push through any major new projects. But with a Senate in the hands of the Democrats, neither will their rivals. Will they entrench themselves in a systematic opposition? To do that, they would have to get together while some of their elected officials are voting with Democrats, as they did in the budget vote before Christmas.
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The choice of “spokesman” is therefore also used to measure their ability to harm the President. Confronting a hostile House could prove a political boon for Joe Biden if he confirms his intention to run again in 2024, a decision he will announce earlier this year. The president was also careful not to comment on Republican disagreements, and his spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, assured that the Democratic leader would not “interfere in this process.” In the event of legislative paralysis, he will no doubt blame the deadlock on weakened Republicans in hopes of turning the situation to his advantage.