(Washington) Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was nominated Tuesday by his peers to be the leader of his party in the US Congress, which opens the way for him to take strategic command of the House of Representatives in January.
“The era of Democratic domination is over,” said the 57-year-old, who has held senior positions in the lower house of Congress since 2014.
Kevin McCarthy was opposed to Andy Biggs, a member of a powerful ultra-conservative group, the Freedom Caucus. Republicans voted by secret ballot.
The elected representative of California must now win the vote in plenary session on January 3, when the 435 new elected officials, Republicans and Democrats, of the House will elect their “speaker” the third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice -President.
This vote promises to be very tight, the Republicans having left to have only a tiny majority in the House. The laborious counting of the midterm elections is still ongoing.
Kevin McCarthy is weakened by the poor performance of the Republicans in these elections, the “giant wave” predicted by the conservatives not having materialized.
Any defection in his camp would significantly complicate his rise to the perch, and the right wing of the conservatives have made it known that they will set their conditions before supporting him.
In 2015, he had already narrowly failed to become Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sandwiches
Born in 1965 in Bakersfield, a Republican stronghold in the Democratic heartland of California, Kevin McCarthy is the son of a Democratic firefighter and housewife.
On his website, he highlights his popular origins and promises to “defend the American dream for those who work hard”. He also tells how he opened a small sandwich business at the age of 21 and discovered the hassle of bureaucracy.
However, he quickly resumed university studies and became a parliamentary assistant, then elected local, until entering the House of Representatives in 2006.
A networker, he has become a master in the art of fundraising and handshakes.
Since the Democrats took over the White House, the Californian has chosen the frontal opposition. A year ago, for example, he monopolized the floor in the House for more than eight hours, only to delay the vote on a massive infrastructure investment plan carried by President Joe Biden.
This earned him frank hostility from Nancy Pelosi. “I’ve worked with a lot of Republican leaders,” she said recently. “Unfortunately, it’s the one with the least substance. »