Three rounds but still no president. The elected members of the American House of Representatives closed their session on Tuesday, January 3, without managing to elect their speaker. This is a first in a hundred years: since 1923, this essential position – the third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice-president – had always found a taker in the first round.
This event constitutes a setback for the Republicans, and in particular for Kevin McCarthy. Big favorite to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the elected Californian has failed, after three successive votes, to calm the revolt emanating from a group of Trumpists who consider him too moderate. The elected officials agreed to suspend their votes until Wednesday morning – the time to negotiate behind the scenes.
In the first round, Mr. McCarthy collected only 203 of the 218 votes needed for his election, despite the 222 elected from his camp in the House. He collected an identical score in the second round. During the third and final vote of the day, the elected Republican even lost a vote (202), his Democratic rival for the post, Hakeem Jeffries, doing better with 212 votes in each of the three rounds, without however having any illusions about his chance of nomination.
“We shouldn’t take it personally, but the future of our country depends on it”, assured Chip Roy, a turbulent elected Republican from Texas. The candidacy of Mr. McCarthy is however widely supported within his party: the announcement of his nomination Tuesday in the hemicycle was received by a great standing ovation in the ranks of the Grand Old Party (GOP).
Twenty spoilsports
At the start of the third round, some annoyance was beginning to be felt, with the more moderate Republicans urging their colleagues to line up around Kevin McCarthy. “We came here to accomplish things”Pleaded the leader of the Republican group, Steve Scalise, to which the Democrats opposed laughter.
Throughout this procedure, Joe Biden’s party united around the candidacy of Hakeem Jeffries, regularly applauding the New York elected official to the sounds of “Hakeem, Hakeem, Hakeem! ».
Kevin McCarthy, who has led his group in the lower house of Congress since 2014, has remained firm in the face of opposition within his party. “We will stay until we win”he told reporters, adding that the figures “will eventually change” without, however, demonstrating how this was going to be possible.
The position of the elected representative from California has weakened due to the poor performance of the GOP in the mid-term elections in November 2022, and because of a handful of elected Trumpists, who accuse him of not not be conservative enough. These have decided to play spoilsports; five even publicly said they would vote against him, and about twenty of them ultimately did not vote for him. “Kevin doesn’t believe in anything, he has no ideology”thus tackled Matt Gaetz, turbulent elected official of Florida.
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Without their support, the election of Kevin McCarthy seemed very compromised, especially since two other elected Republicans, Andy Biggs and Jim Jordan, obtained ten and six votes respectively in the first round, none and nineteen in the second, none and twenty. at the third.
Kevin McCarthy had already narrowly failed in 2015
Kevin McCarthy, however, seemed to want to give pledges to this conservative fringe to prevent history from stuttering: in 2015, he had already narrowly failed to become Speaker of the House of Representatives in the face of a sling from the right wing of the GOP. But he could not afford to go too far at the risk of alienating moderate Republicans.
With Republicans in the majority in the House, Joe Biden and the Democrats won’t be able to push through big new projects. But with a Senate in the hands of the Democrats, neither will their rivals. Will they entrench themselves in a systematic opposition? This would require them to come together, while some of their elected officials – as during the vote on the budget before Christmas – voted with the Democrats.
The election of speaker therefore also serves to measure the Republicans’ ability to cause harm to the White House. Facing a hostile House of Representatives could prove to be a political boon for Joe Biden, if he confirms his intention to run again in 2024 – a move he is due to announce earlier this year. In the event of legislative paralysis, he will undoubtedly blame the blocking on weakened Republicans, hoping to turn the situation to his advantage.