Kevin McCarthy secures speaker post after Brecheen and other Republicans gain concessions

Freshman Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen and more than a dozen other Republicans won concessions on House operations and broke a four-day stalemate early Saturday by voting to elect California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

McCarthy secured the majority of House votes on the 15th ballot, allowing for members to be sworn in for the 118th Congress.

Republican Rep. Frank Lucas, the dean of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, said, “The process of organizing this time was lengthy and unusual by any standard, but it’s my belief it will lead to a stronger House Republican Conference as we address the issues facing the American people created by the Biden Administration. Just as my fellow Oklahomans sent me to Washington to do, I am ready to deliver common sense and conservative results for my neighbors and fellow Americans.”

Lucas, who has been in the House since 1994 and represents much of western Oklahoma and a portion of Oklahoma City, will chair the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Tulsa, whose name was put into nomination for speaker and drew a handful of votes on some ballots on Thursday and Friday, said after McCarthy’s election, “Over the last 4 days and 15 votes, Americans have seen democracy at work −and yes, democracy can get messy sometimes.

“This is exactly how our founders intended us to function – with open debate and opportunity for new ideas. The end result of this week is a substantial change to the way the House operates, change that was desperately needed to empower all members, not just a select few. Congress is broken; every American knows it. But now it is incumbent on Speaker McCarthy to ensure these new reforms are firmly respected.”

The final vote came after a tense confrontation between McCarthy and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz that capped four days of political drama in the House chamber. Some McCarthy supporters also confronted Gaetz, who voted “present” on the last two ballots, rather than opposing McCarthy, as he had done on the first 13.

On the final ballot, McCarthy received 216 votes and New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries received 211 votes. Six Republicans agreed to vote “present,” which lowered the threshold McCarthy needed to attain a majority of votes cast. This week marked the first time in a century that electing a U.S. House speaker took multiple votes.

Republicans will have a slim majority in the House after four years of Democratic rule. Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate. McCarthy succeeds another Californian in the speaker's chair, Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

"I hope one thing is clear after this week: I never give up," McCarthy said in remarks to the House after the four-day saga.

Brecheen, a freshman from Coalgate elected to represent a huge swath of eastern Oklahoma, was among the 20 Republicans who blocked McCarthy’s bid to be speaker on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

But he changed his vote on Friday, saying, "After days of intense deliberations, I cast my vote today for Kevin McCarthy for speaker after he agreed to conservative reforms to how the House of Representatives operates.

"What we have agreed to is transformative and will allow conservatives to rein in out-of-control spending. As I have said before, I did not come to Washington to preserve the status quo. I came here to reform Congress and fix the reckless spending that has plagued our country. I believe this agreement will help put us on the right track."

Brecheen, a former aide to the late U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, had been pushing for changes to the process for considering spending bills, insisting that rank-and-file members be given an opportunity to offer amendments when the bills are on the House floor. Both the House and the Senate in recent years have severely limited members' abilities to amend legislation. That was a major frustration of Coburn, a Republican who resigned from the Senate in early 2015; Coburn passed away in 2020.

In an interview on Friday, Brecheen said the framework of the agreement reached with McCarthy guarantees a return to the tradition of allowing all members to offer amendments to spending bills, he said.

“The transformative change I wanted was more openness,” he said. “You ought to have the ability to have a full debate.”

Like Coburn, Brecheen opposes earmarks, the term for home state projects designated by members in spending bills. He said he did not hold out for a ban on earmarks, choosing to focus on what was attainable. However, he said, the power to offer amendments means “we can go after pork-laden legislation” while it’s being considered by the House.

Brecheen succeeds Republican Markwayne Mullin in the 2nd District seat. Mullin was elected to succeed Sen. Jim Inhofe, who retired.

All five Oklahomans in the House voted for McCarthy on Friday.

Hern, beginning his third term, voted for the Californian on every ballot, despite being nominated himself on Thursday and Friday. Brecheen had voted for Hern and three other Republicans before switching to McCarthy on Friday. Lucas and Reps. Stephanie Bice, of Oklahoma City, and Tom Cole, of Moore, also backed McCarthy on every vote.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: McCarthy wins speakership in process Lucas calls 'lengthy and unusual'