McCarthy Facing Big Challenges Leading a Fractured Republican Party

Republican members-elect celebrate as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is elected Speaker of the House in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Exhausted members of the U.S. House of Representatives took their seats a little after 1 a.m. on Jan. 7 to watch the maiden address of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (D-Calif.), who was finally elected to hold the gavel after the longest, most contentious, and bruising Speaker votes since the Civil War.

And as the protracted episode reminded America—without a Speaker members of the House cannot be sworn in and House business and legislating cannot begin.