The longest U.S. House of Representatives speaker election since the December 1859 – February 1860 U.S. speaker election concludes and Kevin McCarthy is elected 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
January 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
At the opening of the 118th United States Congress, the members-elect of the House of Representatives elected in the 2022 midterms held an election for its speaker, marking the 128th speaker election since the office was created in 1789. It began on January 3, 2023, and concluded in the early morning hours of January 7 when Kevin McCarthy of California, leader of the House Republican Conference, won a majority of votes cast on the fifteenth ballot. After the longest speaker election since December 1859 – February 1860, McCarthy won the speakership by making concessions to Republican Party hardliners, who had refused to support him through several rounds of voting, finding him too weak and untrustworthy.
Kevin McCarthy
Kevin Owen McCarthy is an American politician who served as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January 2023 until he was recalled and removed from the position in October 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for California's 20th congressional district from 2007 until his resignation in 2023.
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United States Congress. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section II, of the U.S. Constitution. By custom and House rules, the speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House and is simultaneously its presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions. Given these many roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates—that duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party—nor regularly participate in floor debates.