Members of the 118th Congress were sworn in early Saturday morning after days of deadlock in the House speaker election that prevented them from assuming their roles. Who is Kevin McCarthy: The newly elected speaker of the house.
The new Congress features a record-setting number of women and several history makers, from the House’s first Gen-Z lawmaker to the longest-serving woman in congressional history.
Newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was sworn in before the members, and now Congress can resume business.
The chamber is expected to vote on a House Rules package Monday.
Kevin Owen McCarthy is an American politician serving as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives from 2019 to 2023, and as House Majority Leader from 2014 to 2019 under speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan. McCarthy is in his ninth House term, serving as the U.S. representative for California’s 22nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013, the 23rd district from 2013 to 2023, and the 20th district since 2023.
McCarthy was born in Bakersfield, California. He attended California State University, Bakersfield, while working as a firefighter. McCarthy formerly chaired the California Young Republicans and the Young Republican National Federation. He was a representative in the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2006, the last two years as a minority leader. He was elected to Congress in 2006. McCarthy was elected to House leadership in his second term as Republican Chief Deputy Whip from 2009 to 2011. When Republicans took control of the House in 2011, he became majority whip from 2011 until August 2014, when he was elected majority leader to replace the outgoing Eric Cantor, who was defeated in his primary election.
After Republicans lost the majority in the 2018 midterm elections, and Speaker Paul Ryan retired, McCarthy was elected minority leader in January 2019, making him the first California Republican to hold the post.
McCarthy was a steady defender of former president Donald Trump for most of his time as majority leader and minority leader. After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, McCarthy supported Trump’s false denial of Biden’s victory and participated in efforts to overturn the results, and while he condemned the January 6 United States Capitol attack in its immediate aftermath, blaming Trump for the riot and saying the 2020 election was legitimate, he would later walk back these comments and reconcile with Trump.
In the 2022 House elections, he led the Republican Party in gaining a narrow chamber majority. He was subsequently the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House, but he failed to win the Speakership in the first fourteen ballots of the 118th Congress, as around twenty of his Republican colleagues repeatedly voted against him.
Kevin McCarthy has been sworn in as House speaker of the 118th Congress.
After days of deadlock and major concessions, McCarthy secured enough votes to be a speaker in the 15th round of voting early Saturday morning.
The other members of Congress were also sworn-in, clearing the path for a vote on the House Rules package.
