Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives on Friday, after 15 rounds of voting and heated exchanges which almost saw fellow Republicans come to blows, the BBC reported.
Speaking after his confirmation, Mr. McCarthy told reporters that former President Trump had helped him get the final votes: "I don't think anybody should doubt his influence".
"He was with me from the beginning... he would call me and he would call others," he said.
On Twitter, Mr. McCarthy wrote: "I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. And I will never give up on you, the American people."
Mr. McCarthy's victory came after a dramatic pressure campaign on the House floor to get Florida Congressman, Matt Gaetz, the last holdout to vote for him.
Gaetz was among those who held out and relented to vote for McCarthy on Friday.
Others were members of the House Freedom Caucus, who contend that Mr. McCarthy is not sufficiently conservative to serve as their leader as they worked toward resisting the policies of the Democratic President Joe Biden.
US President Joe Biden congratulated Mr. McCarthy on his victory and expressed his desire to cooperate with the Republican Party.
"The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs above all else, and that is what we need to do now," Biden said.
Republicans have already committed to starting a probe into Mr. Biden's administration and his family business dealings.
Mr. McCarthy offered various concessions to the rebels, including a seat on the influential rules committee that determines the terms for debate on legislation in the chamber.
However, the Republican alliance may easily split again even after Mr. McCarthy's win because he agreed to lower the bar for calling a vote on whether to remove the Speaker to only one House member.
The minority Democrats had persistently voted in unison for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the first black person to ever lead a party in Congress.
Senior Democratic Party legislators compared the standoff to the riot that occurred exactly two years ago on Capitol Hill by Trump supporters who disrupted Mr. Biden's certification as president.
The Democratic legislators accused Mr. McCarthy of handing control to an extreme wing of his party.
Congressman Eric Swalwell wrote on Twitter, "Two years ago insurrectionists failed to take over the Capitol. Tonight Kevin McCarthy let them take over the Republican Party."
Mr. McCarthy opened his acceptance speech by joking; "that was easy, eh?".
He said one of his primary goals was to stop "wasteful Washington spending" and
outlined several Republican policy objectives including lowering prices, securing the US-Mexico border, and fighting what he called a "woke indoctrination".
The lower chamber of Congress has not voted this many times to choose a speaker since 1860, in the run-up to the American Civil War. 44 rounds of ballots were cast back then.
Republicans took control of the House in November's midterm elections, although by a weaker margin than many had predicted (222 to 212).
Democrats retained control of the Senate.
Politics and Opinion.
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