WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 24: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during a news conference outside of his office at the U.S.
Capitol on January 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. McCarthy spoke on a range of issues, including committee assignme WASHINGTON (AP) - When Rep.
Kevin McCarthy emerged from a messy 15-ballot election and ascended to House speaker, he was emboldened rather than chastened by the fight, declaring that his father taught him early on in life: "It’s not how you start; it's how you finish."But as the embattled Republican leader from California rounds the first 100 days at the helm of a slim House Republican majority, it is proving hard to shake off the spectacle of the unsteady launch that has become a defining backbeat to McCarthy’s speakership.So far, McCarthy has logged surprise successes in the new Congress: The Republican House has passed dozens of bills, many of them bipartisan, including politically potent efforts targeting crime and the COVID-19 pandemic that left President Joe Biden almost no choice but to sign the bills into law.RELATED: Supreme Court's abortion pill order spares safe havens for nowMcCarthy has opened the Capitol more fully to visitors, relishing the onlookers who stop to snap selfies during his impromptu hallway news conferences.
He hosted his first foreign leader, President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, with a diplomatic flourish, leading a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers standing up to China.Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected House Speaker after 15 votes.