Speaker saga: Winners and losers of 15-round vote
Ryan King
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Republicans aired their dirty laundry in public this week as loyalists of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and a band of 20 rebel hardliners clashed over the speaker gavel.
McCarthy ultimately prevailed in the early hours of Saturday after enduring a whopping 15 rounds of voting, scenes not seen in more than a century.
‘WE’LL HAVE THE VOTES’: KEVIN MCCARTHY SAYS HE WILL BE ELECTED SPEAKER TONIGHT
Here are the winners and losers in the dramatic House GOP flare-up.
Winners
House Democrats
Democrats had a field day in the speakership debacle, eating popcorn and mocking their Republican counterparts who were in complete disarray. The split-screen of Democrats in unison behind House Minority Leader-elect Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Republicans in total disharmony enabled Democrats to present themselves as the more competent party.
Some openly pondered if they could leverage the GOP drama to score concessions.
Joe Biden
President Joe Biden no longer enjoys unified Democratic control in Washington, D.C., but Republican infighting can help fuel his public ammunition against the party. Late last year, a slew of Republican senators capitulated to the Democrats on an omnibus spending package. A reason cited by one of the defectors was angst that House Republicans lacked the “maturity and the ability to lead” if the Senate torpedoed the package.
Mitch McConnell
While his House counterparts were in disarray, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) traveled to his home state with Biden for a bipartisan infrastructure event. He also contrasted the House’s chaotic leadership process by garnering sufficient support from his members prior to the new year.
Media
The Washington press corps enjoyed quite a spectacle over four days and nights. There was a deluge of late-night drama as well as various twists and turns in the debacle to enthrall readers. C-SPAN, a network dedicated to covering the Capitol, seized on the lack of congressional rules and enjoyed free rein with its camera systems, capturing a number of spicy exchanges on the House floor between members, culminating in an incident Friday night where Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) appeared to lunge at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Losers
Freedom Caucus
One could legitimately argue that the House Freedom Caucus was a winner in the process on some level. On the surface, Republican rebels scored considerable concessions from McCarthy who lowered his initial proposed threshold for restoring a motion to vacate and made other compromises. However, many Republicans on the other side did not appear to rule out most of those compromises publicly.
In fact, a common gripe among loyalist Republicans such as Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) was the lack of clarity on what the dissidents wanted. The loyalists’ main objective was to get McCarthy elected and not let defectors such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tank him.
The Freedom Caucus has a history of putting up a fuss and scaring off members of the so-called Republican establishment. Back in 2015, members of the Freedom Caucus flexed their power to pressure former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) into resigning and thwarted McCarthy’s quest for the gavel at the time.
Now, the so-called establishment wing of the party has demonstrated its willingness to push back and win.
Kevin McCarthy
McCarthy ultimately wound up clinching the gavel, but he had to endure a level of humiliation unseen since 1923, the last time a speaker wasn’t elected during the first round of voting. Additionally, the perception of his power will be greatly diminished by the GOP civil war as he seeks to negotiate deals with Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
A key concession he gave reportedly entailed reviving a procedural tool known as the motion to vacate that will enable one member to trigger it and render his speakership in peril. McCarthy has pointed out that the tool had been intact under prior speakerships before former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) scrapped it, but it will likely loom over his tenure.
Donald Trump
While many Republican rebels such as Gaetz frequently adulate former President Donald Trump, he struggled to move them, raising questions about his influence as he vies for the presidency. Trump previously appeared to exhibit considerable sway with the Freedom Caucus.
During his administration, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) tapped him to win over members of the conservative group to help pass tax and healthcare reform. Trump then unleashed his mammoth Twitter account on the hardliners and ultimately managed to win enough over for both pieces of legislation to clear the House.
Healthcare reform notably failed in the razor-thin GOP Senate at the time due to opposition moderates such as the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), but tax reform later became law.
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Congress
For four days, the House was trapped in stasis due to the stalemate. Members of the lower chamber could not get sworn in, join committees, or receive classified briefings. The institution itself took a hit in the public eye amid its already sour public approval ratings.
The saga was the longest speaker election since 1859.