Kevin McCarthy clears GOP hurdle on path to speakership
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cleared the first major hurdle on his path to become the next Speaker of the House, winning the GOP nomination for the position by 188 to 31 on Tuesday.
While McCarthy was widely expected to become the party's nominee for the position, he faced a fierce, last-minute challenge from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) representing the GOP's right flank, still reeling from the Republicans' lackluster results during the 2022 midterms. Biggs had been backed by MAGA Republican figures like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) who reportedly worked to actively whip votes against McCarthy in the lead-up to Tuesday's vote. McCarthy, however, enjoyed the public support of both former President Donald Trump, and — perhaps surprisingly — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who called any potential challenge a "bad strategy" for the party.
Although McCarthy earned the overwhelming GOP support for the speaker's gavel, he faces a significantly more difficult trial when the full House of Representatives votes on who should become the next speaker. Republicans are bracing for a razor-thin congressional majority in which even a few defections could scuttle the necessary 218 votes needed to assume the speakership. With more than 30 members of his own party already voting against him, McCarthy now needs to win their support if he hopes to reach the requisite count. Already Rep. Don Bacon (R-Ne.) has threatened a willingness to work with Democrats in support of a moderate nominee should McCarthy's campaign fail.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
Nigerian Modernism: an ‘entrancing, enlightening exhibition’The Week Recommends Tate Modern’s ‘revelatory’ show includes 250 works examining Nigerian art pre- and post independence
-
To the point: the gender divide over exclamation marksTalking Point 'Men harbouring urges to be more exclamative' can finally take a breath – this is what using the punctuation really conveys
-
Macbeth: a ‘genuinely scary’ productionThe Week Recommends Daniel Raggett’s nightmarish modern-day staging is set in a boozer in gangland Glasgow
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Young Republicans: Does the GOP have a Nazi problem?Feature Leaked chats from members of the Young Republican National Federation reveal racist slurs and Nazi jokes
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
