Kevin McCarthy Elected House Speaker After 15 Rounds Of Voting

Kevin McCarthy has been elected Speaker of the U.S. House on a historic 15th ballot overnight Friday into Saturday.

The California Republican defeated New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries for the job by a 216-212 vote. It took 15 ballots to clinch the 55th House speaker position, the most since before the Civil War. After he was elected, McCarthy took to Twitter. "I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. And I will never give up for you, the American people," he wrote, alongside a video of him being congratulated.

President Joe Biden also shared his congratulations in a statement:

Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House. The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs above all else, and that is what we need to do now. As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well. Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin.

McCarthy was able to churn out 14 Republican votes in the 12th ballot from lawmakers who previously held out. In the 13th ballot, another GOP representative held out their vote, but McCarthy told reporters he would "have the votes" to clinch the vote. He was, however, still short. That's when it got heated between lawmakers during the vote at the U.S. Capitol late Friday night. After the 14th ballot, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz and Alabama Republican Mike Rogers almost got into a physical altercation, BBC reports. The latter had to be "physically restrained" by other lawmakers during an argument that escalated.

When McCarthy was finally elected, the House floor "erupted in applause," but the Democrats' side "was completely silent. No democrat applauded," the news outlet reported.