The wait is over: Morgan McGarvey sworn into Congress after House Speaker vote resolved

Louisville's congressman-elect, Morgan McGarvey, and his wife and kids were all dressed up Tuesday for the big moment when he'd be sworn into office on Capitol Hill − but then Republican lawmakers failed to choose a House speaker on the chamber's initial ballot for the first time in a century.

Then they failed more than a dozen more times as Kevin McCarthy, the GOP's party leader in the House, fell short in 14 straight ballots of the votes necessary to be selected speaker.

McCarthy eventually won speakership on the 15th vote early Saturday morning. But as Day Four of the new Congress got rolling earlier Friday, McGarvey and every other House member remained representatives-elect who hadn't yet been sworn in − even fellow Rep. Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican who is the longest-serving lawmaker in the whole chamber.

"The most frustrating thing about this is nothing can happen until we have a speaker. There are no rules that can be adopted, there are no committee assignments, there’s no bills that can move forward," McGarvey had said Friday in an interview with The Courier Journal, just before the speaker-less House convened at noon. "We really are stuck right now as a Congress because of the Republican infighting."

"I am not one to just point fingers and play the blame game," said McGarvey, a former state senator who ran for federal office as a progressive who's willing to make bipartisan deals. "Usually in politics you can find blame to go around. But it’s been clear that the job of the majority caucus is to choose the speaker. And for the last 100 years this has worked perfectly, every time, on the first ballot."

Friday updates:McCarthy gains momentum with new votes, appears to fall short in speaker bid

The GOP won a majority of House seats in the November election, so they're taking control of the chamber from the Democratic Party. McCarthy has won most of his conservative caucus's support in each speaker vote, but a small group of holdout Republicans kept refusing to give him the support he needed to assume that mantle. He eventually landed 216 votes early Saturday morning, after multiple GOP holdouts against him voted "present" instead of in favor of another candidate.

The House convened Friday on the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, when supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol as part of a broader effort to overturn President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

McCarthy, as well as a majority of the 20 conservatives who repeatedly refused to vote for him for speaker earlier this week, were among the 147 Republicans in Congress who voted to overturn the election results that day.

McGarvey said he attended a Jan. 6 remembrance ceremony Friday morning, and he noted the events that took place two years ago represented an "unprecedented attack on our country, on our democracy" and, to some extent, needs to "stand alone."

However, he said, it's worth noting that of the "20 extreme Republicans" who'd been "essentially holding the United States government hostage" this week, more than half of them are election deniers who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential race.

In Kentucky:Matt Bevin hints at another run for governor, just ahead of filing deadline

McGarvey pointed out that he and his fellow freshmen are the first class of new House members who were elected after the Jan. 6 attack.

"We’re the first post-Jan. 6 class in Congress. And through orientation and getting to know the members of my class, I really sense that ... there’s a sense of seriousness, there’s a sense of duty," he said, and that applies to incoming lawmakers of both parties. "We’re here because we want to get stuff done."

McGarvey said despite the drama, he's still excited to take on this job and succeed retired former Rep. John Yarmuth, the Democrat who represented Kentucky's Louisville-based 3rd Congressional District for 16 years.

"As you can imagine I've been texting with a lot of people back home ... and I tell people, 'Yes, it is chaotic, it is wild, it is a little bit surreal. And this is still such an amazing job and opportunity,'" he said before McCarthy got the votes he needed. "To be here as Louisville’s representative − it’s incredible."

For days, McGarvey, his wife, Chris, and their three children had been prepared for him to be sworn in. He said one funny aspect of this has been that, like a lot of families, they don't have a ton of dress clothes for their young kids.

"They have a swearing-in outfit, so every day since Tuesday we just take it off and hang it in my office. And everybody has the same clothes that they’ll put on and go to the (House) floor today if we look like we’re going to get sworn in," he said. "We're waiting. It’s kind of like Groundhog Day," a reference to the 1993 comedy starring Bill Murray as a man reliving the same day over and over.

Morgan Watkins is The Courier Journal's chief political reporter. Contact her at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kevin McCarthy votes left Morgan McGarvey waiting to be sworn in