On January 3rd, the House of Representatives voted to elect a new Speaker of the House. For pretty much any other time in history, this has been more of a formality than an actual important election. The party that wins the majority in the house has their candidate in mind and unanimously casts their vote for that candidate. This time was different though. Rather than the decision taking a single afternoon, with the preferred Republican (the majority party of the 118th congress) candidate Kevin McCarthy winning, it took 4 days, requiring 15 total votes. What happened?

Let’s take a look at the people who ran:

• Hakeem Jeffries - The candidate nominated by the Democratic Party. Was voted for unanimously by Democrats every single vote.
• Kevin Mccarthy - The candidate supported by the vast majority of Republicans. Eventually ended up becoming speaker of the House on January 7th, 2023. Disliked by more radical elements of the party
• Andy Biggs- Member and former chair of the House Freedom Caucus. Endorsed by other Freedom Caucus members.
• Jim Jordan- Current chair of the House Freedom Caucus. Did not actually want the nomination, but received votes from other Freedom Caucus members.
• Byron Donalds- Freedom Caucus member who gained the support of the Caucus after Jim Jordan fell out of their favor.
• Donald Trump- Received a singular vote from Matt Gaetz in the 7th and 8th elections. Contrary to popular belief, the House Speaker does not actually have to be a member of the house, or government at all, but most often is.

So who exactly is this “Freedom Caucus?” Well, it is a group of ultra-conservative representatives formed in opposition to the House Republican Study Committee, the main Republican congressional ideological caucus. These congresspeople advocate for very conservative policy and are fiercely loyal to former president Donald Trump. Another thing they are united on is their hatred of Kevin McCarthy, a perceived “moderate”, backed by the Republican Study Committee. Throughout the 15 votes that were held to elect the new Speaker, the House Freedom Caucus repeatedly voted for candidates other than McCarthy , meaning McCarthy won less votes than Hakeem Jeffries. However, since a majority (as opposed to a plurality) of the house votes is required to elect a new speaker, no one actually won each vote. The 1st vote was inconclusive, then the 2nd, then the 3rd, then the 4th… Each time, the Freedom Caucus members would purposely throw the election for McCarthy in hopes of wearing down the remaining Republicans to back a new, more conservative nominee. Meanwhile, McCarthy and his supporters were desperately urging the Freedom Caucus to back him, making increased concessions to them. By the 15th vote, he had conceded much, and the remaining Republican defectors threw their support behind McCarthy or voted present. McCarthy won with 216 votes, a slim majority made possible only by those republicans who voted “present”, essentially nullifying their votes and lowering the margin needed to win.

Here’s a breakdown of the votes of the Freedom Caucus holdouts:

So what does this mean for us and for politics in general? Well, since the far-right Freedom Caucus has effectively proven that McCarthy’s success depends upon their cooperation. This means that McCarthy will be forced to adopt a more hardline conservative stance when deciding what policy is to be voted on so that he may appease these legislators. This also means that these couple of legislators exercise enormous control over the Republican party and the government as a whole, and no new legislation will be reported out without their support. This whole fiasco has shown that the hardline Trumpist faction of the Republican party still wields substantial power, even in the age when right-wing news has all but abandoned Trump and Ron Desantis poses a threat to his presidential candidacy. 

​ERIK WILBERDING