[New York Diary] Winning Is Not Really Winning

"Winning" That Feels Like Losing
Republican Party's Deep Division on Full Display in the House Speaker Election

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] "Winning is not really winning." This was a phrase that came up in a clumsy conversation with an American friend while watching the five-day-long U.S. House Speaker election. Kevin McCarthy of the Republican Party, who was expected to win, literally lost face by failing to secure a majority vote 14 times in a row just last week.

Is McCarthy the only one who lost face? It is a failure of governance itself for the entire Republican Party, which took the majority status in the House from the Democrats in the November 8 midterm elections. They only showed the world how deeply divided the party is, to the extent that they could not even elect the House Speaker, a position traditionally held by the majority party's floor leader.

It is the first time in 100 years, since 1923, that the U.S. House Speaker election?a process usually considered a formality?did not conclude in a single vote. And the hardliners who led the Republican rebellion seem unsatisfied with just the century-old record. When the 9th vote on the 5th (local time) failed to decide the winner and proceeded to the 10th vote, major foreign media headlines added phrases like "Longest election since 1859" and "Most votes in 164 years." In 1923, the Speaker was elected after 9 rounds of voting. In 1859, there were 44 rounds of voting. Even earlier, in 1855, there were 133 rounds over two months.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

From the second day of voting, McCarthy, who declared "I will fight until I win. I received the most votes," eventually became the House Speaker. After midnight on the 7th, the fifth day, he secured enough votes in the 15th round of voting. He won over 14 out of 20 hardline Republican rebels.

Of course, he had to give up a lot in the process. He complied with their demands to allow any House member to submit a resolution to remove the Speaker and agreed to place more hardline members on the House Rules Committee. Initially, McCarthy's options were to withdraw his candidacy, concede to the hardliners, or secure votes through negotiations with the Democrats, but persuading the hardliners was the only viable card.

Since prolonged House gridlock would inevitably cause chaos, the hardliners centered around the 'Freedom Caucus' had no choice but to accept some concessions. The New York Times (NYT) analyzed that even the hardline members do not expect their recommended candidate, Representative Byron Donalds, to be elected, but want to "record their dissatisfaction with McCarthy in congressional history." Indeed, after 164 years, this is quite a record. Fifteen rounds of voting rank among the top five longest House Speaker elections in history.

In conclusion, although McCarthy won the House Speaker vote, he appears to be the loser. This contrasts with his earlier statement to reporters late at night after the 11th failed majority vote, "I don't care how long it takes. If it ends well, it's a success." In his first speech after winning, he joked, "It was easy. Isn't it?" But what McCarthy showed to Congress and the public during this process was only a lack of control, unable to quickly suppress even the party's rebellious votes. Local media unanimously expressed concerns about his lack of leadership and the stark division within the party.

And this could be a preview of the 2024 presidential election. The Republican Party's division, to the extent that even formal procedures are blocked, will continue, and in the process, legislation for the economy and people's livelihoods will be pushed to the back burner.

Some may call this the process of 'politics.' For the Republican hardliners, it may have been a 'struggle' to get what they wanted. But what about ordinary Americans? A 30-something New Yorker friend from the Republican-leaning southern U.S. summarized it this way: It was just a family quarrel that stopped Congress for several days. And all this happened while the whole world was watching.