Congressional Republicans held leadership elections this week, with both chambers choosing to stay the course for the most part.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will keep his post next year, while Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) won the job of incoming minority leader in the House. GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) retained his leadership post and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was elected by voice vote to conference chair, the No. 3 GOP spot in the House.
McCarthy, who currently serves as House Majority Leader, had outgoing Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) backing in his leadership race against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. McCarthy prevailed over Jordan by a 159-43 vote.
House Democrats are not picking leaders until later this month but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is still working to secure enough votes to become speaker in the next Congress. Pelosi is a prolific fundraiser for the Democrats and campaigned hard for many of the record number of women who will be seated in January. Democrats will vote internally on their nominee for speaker on Nov. 28 but that nominee will have to be confirmed in a floor vote Jan. 3.
This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.