Kevin McCarthy struggles for top spot in new Republican-led US Congress
- Kevin McCarthy scrambles to line up enough Republican votes to win election as speaker of the House of Representatives
- A handful of right-wing holdouts have warned they will not support the congressman’s bid to be one of the country’s top statesmen
US congressman Kevin McCarthy struggled to beat back hard-line conservative opposition and secure enough votes to give him the speakership when the new House of Representatives convenes with a narrow Republican majority on Tuesday.
The speaker is a powerful role, in line behind the US vice-president to succeed the president should the commander in chief be incapacitated.
After a poorer-than-expected showing in the November midterm elections, McCarthy’s fellow Republicans have been embroiled in a public brawl over who should lead their party once it assumes control of the House.
A group of hard-line conservatives opposes McCarthy’s candidacy, concerned that he is less deeply vested in the culture wars and partisan rivalries that have dominated the House and even more so since Donald Trump’s White House years.
They have criticised the California Republican for not taking a more aggressive stance against Democrats, who under Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been in control, on priorities including government funding, defence and border security.
Congressman Bob Good is one of five Republican lawmakers who have said they would not back McCarthy.
