Republican McCarthy close to becoming speaker in late-night vote

Washington, The Gulf Observer: Republican leader Kevin McCarthy edged to the cusp of becoming House speaker late Friday night as the chamber pushed through a historic 14th vote. He made extraordinary gains in a grueling standoff that has tested American democracy and the GOP majority’s ability to govern.

In a fourth, chaotic day of balloting, McCarthy had already flipped 15 conservative holdouts to become supporters, including the chairman of the chamber’s Freedom Caucus, leaving him just a few shy of seizing the gavel for the new Congress.

The House convened late in the night, giving time for last-minute negotiations and for absent Republican colleagues time to return to Washington if their votes were needed. Newly elected Wesley Hunt of Texas arrived to vote for McCarthy — to applause days after his wife had given birth to their new son.

McCarthy declared to reporters that he believed “we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all.”

The stunning turnaround came after McCarthy agreed to many of the detractors’ demands — including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would allow any single member to call a vote to oust him from office.

The showdown that has stymied the new Congress came against the backdrop of the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which shook the country when a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters tried to stop Congress from certifying the Republican’s 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.

At a Capitol event on Friday, some lawmakers, mostly Democrats, observed a moment of silence and praised officers who helped protect Congress on that day. And at the White House, Biden handed out medals to officers and others who fought the attackers.

“America is a land of laws, not chaos,” he said.

Even if McCarthy is able to secure the votes he needs, he will emerge as a weakened speaker, having given away some powers and constantly under the threat of being booted by his detractors.

But he could also be emboldened as a survivor of one of the more brutal fights for the gavel in U.S. history. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of voting — the fifth longest in history.