Hot Take: Will Kevin McCarthy be elected Speaker of the House?

Sam Gordon wrote:

No – I don’t think he has the capacity to unite the various factions of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, I feel like someone far more radical will be ultimately chosen as the far right-wingers in the party have gained significantly more ground.

William Karr wrote:

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, will become the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 118th U.S. Congress. To become House speaker, McCarthy must receive 218 votes on the House floor. That is unlikely to happen at first. At least six Republican representatives have announced that they will not support McCarthy’s bid for House speaker. Thus, at max, McCarthy will receive 216 votes, 2 shy of 218. Anyhow, someone must become House speaker — second in line for the presidency — and that someone is Kevin Owen McCarthy, a soon-to-be nine-term congressman, who has served in House Republican leadership since 2009. In 2015, McCarthy withdrew from the speakership race before the floor vote. Now, seven years later, McCarthy has vowed to “take the speaker’s fight to the floor”. Thus, if, after the first ballot, McCarthy does not earn 218 votes, he will likely cut a deal with the far-right House Freedom Caucus to earn enough votes to become House speaker.

Avi Shah wrote: 

Kevin McCarthy will not become the Speaker of the House. There is too much Republican opposition to his speakership for him to overcome. He was voted to be the Republican nominee on a 188-31 vote, and he is going to need way more votes, 218, to win the speakership vote in the end. McCarthy does not have the political clout to convince that many people to vote for him, especially when so many have come out and said that they will never vote for him.

Reagan Subeck wrote:

Probably.

Skye Warner wrote:

Sadly, yes, Republicans have the House majority and McCarthy is one of the few Republicans who doesn’t have anything against him or his platform.