In a historic and tumultuous 15 rounds of voting over the past four days, Kevin McCarthy was finally named as the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives on Saturday.
The 57-year-old Californian, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, needed a simple majority to be elected as Washington's top legislator, but the deeply divided Republicans took much longer than expected to fend off a right-wing, anti-McCarthy rebellion.
This was the first time in 100 years that a speaker did not win on the first ballot and the longest speakership election in 160 years.
Of 428 votes cast, McCarthy received 216 and the Democrats' Hakeem Jeffries got 212.
The vote was closely watched as the Republican party, which holds a narrow 222-212 majority in the House, has been grappling with internal divisions and the rise of hardline conservatives.
After the election, the Republican members of the House of Representatives gave Kevin McCarthy a standing ovation, chanting "USA! USA!" while the Democrats remained silent with almost no clapping.
Despite the acrimonious nature of the election process, McCarthy turned to the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries:
"To Leader Jeffries, there will be times we'll agree and many times we'll differ. I promise that our debates will be passionate, but never personal. And now the hard work begins. What we do here today, next week, next month, and next year will set the tone for everything that follows".
McCarthy jokingly added "Hakeem, I need to warn you I also won 100 percent of my conference vote on this floor two years ago. So, good luck!".
Democratic President Joe Biden also offered his congratulations to the new Republican Speaker, and expressing his willingness to work closely with him:
"As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well. Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin."
However, the Republicans have already vowed to launch investigations into Biden, his administration, and his family's business dealings, setting the stage for a potentially contentious relationship between the two parties.
