Republican Kevin McCarthy did not win a majority as leader of the US House of Representatives in Congress. Thus, there will be a re-election for the first time in 100 years.
It became clear when the 434 representatives met for the first time since last year’s by-election.
After the Republicans won a majority in House of Representatives House of Representatives The House of Representatives is one of two chambers of Congress. Each state has a number of representatives that reflects the number of residents in the state, unlike the other house – the Senate – where each state has two representatives each.in the elections, they are the ones who in the next two years will have the so-called Speaker of the House, i.e. the group leader of the House, but McCarthy had to get at least 218 votes to get the job.
After many of his party colleagues refused to vote for him but instead voted for other Republicans, he didn’t hit the magic limit. In total, Republicans have 222 representatives, so McCarthy could only afford four of his party colleagues to vote for the others.
A total of nineteen of his voted for other Republican candidates.
Most of those who have done so are considered to be among those further to the right on the political ladder in Congress.
Many of those who voted against him do so, among other things, because he didn’t want to accept the introduction of a rule that allows individual representatives to ask for the leader’s resignation at any time. He didn’t extend further that there must be at least five representatives calling for his resignation at the same time.
Usually a formality
All Democrats voted for their candidate, Hakeem Jeffries, but since there are only 212 Democrats and no Republicans voted for him, he still didn’t stand a chance, even though he got the most votes overall.
Now, for the first time in exactly 100 years, there will be a re-election before a President is ready.
It could happen as early as Tuesday evening.
Normally this vote, which takes place every two years, is only a formality, because the party with the majority has agreed in advance who it will vote for. So this time it didn’t happen.
Who will succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was leader until 17:57 Norwegian time on Tuesday, is therefore still uncertain.
T-shirt fryers
Many now fear chaos because what happens next is highly uncertain. One possibility is that the Republicans manage to agree on McCarthy in the back room after all, so that only one new vote is needed.
Former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent tells CNN he doesn’t believe this is happening.
– They can continue with these votes, but once you have voted like this it is very difficult to change your vote. So I don’t see that happening, she says.
If it gets it right, it could end up with several rounds of voting before agreeing on a candidate. It could potentially take several days for a selection to be made.
Then other candidates may appear who eventually get the job instead of Kevin McCarthy, who has long been the clear favorite to become leader.
In 1923, nine votes were taken three days before there was a result.
Before a leader has been elected, the House of Representatives cannot begin its normal business. Therefore, everything else is suspended until further notice. No cases will be processed.
In 1849 it took so long that it was finally decided to elect a leader without the person having to have the votes of at least half of the representatives. After 19 days, it was agreed to hold a ballot in which the person who received the most votes was elected, whether or not there were less than half.
Lots of power
It’s worth noting that if not enough representatives vote, you don’t necessarily need 218 votes, but you do need to have more than half the votes of those actually voting. Two years ago Nancy Pelosi was elected with 216 votes, for example.
The leader of the House of Representatives has a lot of power both in terms of the issues that are discussed in the chamber and in who manages the various political committees.
The leader will also automatically be sworn in as president if both the incumbent president and the vice president should be unable to lead the country, for example if both should lose their lives.
