Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on the 15th ballot after midnight

“My father always told me, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy told cheering fellow Republicans.

Eager to confront President Joe Biden and the Democrats, he promised subpoenas and investigations. “Now the hard work begins,” declared the California Republican. He credited former President Donald Trump for standing with him and making the later calls to “help get the last votes.”

Republicans roared in celebration when his victory was announced, chanting “USA! USA!”

Finally elected, McCarthy took the oath of office, and the House finally swore in newly elected lawmakers who had been waiting all week for the chamber to formally open and begin the 2023-24 session.

After four days of tense ballots, McCarthy turned more than a dozen conservatives into supporters, including the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

He got one vote short of the 14th ballot, and the room became noisy, uncontrollable.

McCarthy walked to the back of the room to confront Republican Matt Gaetz, who was sitting with Lauren Boebert and other holdouts. Fingers are pointed, words are exchanged and violence is apparently avoided.

At one point, Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama, shouting, approached Gaetz before another Republican, Richard Hudson, physically pulled him back.

“Stay civil!” someone shouted.

Order restored, Republicans fell in line to give McCarthy the position he had fought so hard to get, House speaker, second in line to the presidency.

The few remaining Republican holdouts started voting today, dropping the tally he needed. It was the end of a bitter standoff that showed the strength and weakness of American democracy.

The tally was 216-212 with Democrats voting for leader Hakeem Jeffries, and six Republican holdouts to McCarthy voting alone.

The night’s dramatic turn of events came after McCarthy agreed to several of the detractors’ demands — including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would have allowed any member to call a vote to remove him from office.

Even if McCarthy got the votes he needed, he would emerge as a weak speaker, given few powers and constantly under threat of attack by his detractors.

But he can also be brave as a survivor of one of the more brutal fights for the gavel in US history. Not since the time of the Civil War has a vote for speaker dragged out so many rounds of voting.

The showdown that blocked the new Congress took place against the backdrop of the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which shook the country when a crowd of Trump supporters tried to prevent the Congress to certify the defeat of the Republican in the election of 2020. to Biden.

At an event at the Capitol on Friday, several lawmakers, all but one of them Democrats, observed a moment of silence and praised the officers who helped protect Congress that day. And at the White House, Biden handed out medals to officers and others who fought the attackers.

“America is a land of laws, not chaos,” he said.

In the afternoon speaker vote, several Republicans fed up with the spectacle temporarily walked out when one of McCarthy’s most ardent challengers, Gaetz, railed against the GOP leader.

The contours of a deal with conservative holdouts that prevented McCarthy’s rise emerged last night, and came after four grueling days and 14 failed votes in an intraparty standoff. not seen in modern times.

A key former holdout — Republican Scott Perry, chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, who is a leader in Trump’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election — tweeted after his switch vote for McCarthy, “We are at a turning point.”

Another Republican holdout, Byron Donalds of Florida, who has repeatedly been nominated as an alternative candidate for speaker, also moved on Friday, voting for McCarthy.

Trump may have played a role in shaking some of the restraints — calling a meeting of Republican freshmen the night before, and calling other members before the vote. He urged Republicans to end their bickering in public.

While Republican Mike Garcia nominated McCarthy on Friday, he also thanked the US Capitol Police who were given a standing ovation for protecting lawmakers and the legislative seat of democracy on January 6.

But in nominating Democratic leader Jeffries, Democrat Jim Clyburn recalled the horror of that day and told his colleagues, “The eyes of the nation are upon us now.”

Choosing a speaker is usually an easy, happy task for a party that has just won majority control. But not this time: About 200 Republicans were held back by 20 right-wing colleagues who said McCarthy was not conservative enough.

The House adjourned Friday into the evening, allowing time for last-minute negotiations and allowing the two absent Republican colleagues to return to Washington.

Newly elected Wesley Hunt of Texas came to vote for McCarthy — to applause, days after his wife gave birth — as did Ken Buck of Colorado.

The disorganized start to the new Congress points to difficulties ahead with Republicans who now control the House, just as some past Republican speakers, including John Boehner, have had trouble leading a rebel right wing. The result: government shutdowns, standoffs and Boehner’s early retirement when conservatives threatened to fire him.

The agreement presented by McCarthy the restrictions from the Freedom Caucus and others focused on changes to the rules they’ve sought for months. Those changes would reduce the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence in drafting and passing legislation.

At the heart of the emerging agreement is the restoration of a House rule that would allow a lawmaker to make a motion to “vacate the seat,” essentially calling for a vote to oust the speaker. McCarthy resisted allowing the return of a long-standing rule that was repealed by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, because it was held in Boehner’s head. But it appears McCarthy has no other choice.

Other wins for holdouts are more obscure and include provisions in the proposed deal to expand the number of seats available on the House Rules Committee; mandate 72 hours for bills to be posted before votes; and to promise to try a constitutional amendment that would impose federal limits on the number of terms a person can serve in the House and Senate.

Ahead of Friday’s ballots, Democratic leader Jeffries of New York won the most votes in every ballot but still fell short of a majority. McCarthy ran to second, gaining no ground.

The longest fight for the gavel began in late 1855 and dragged on for two months, with 133 ballots, during the debates over slavery at the start of the Civil War.

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AP writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking and video journalists Nathan Ellgren and Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.