Following the midterm election loss of the majority, Jordan sent a letter to colleagues where he promoted his bid to become Republican leader, in which he argued that the House GOP "have largely been conducting "business as usual" for the past two years, and we just paid the price".
McCarthy received 159 votes from House Republicans, while 43 Republicans voted for House Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan (R-OH) for House Minority Leader. And House Democrats can not afford to put forward anyone less than their smartest, savviest, most tenacious and strategic member - someone with a track record of successful leadership.
McCarthy is running against hard-line conservative Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, for the top GOP leadership slot.
Despite Jordan's interest, McCarthy is favoured to win his party's vote.
As for calls for impeachment, Dershowitz said he believes the Democratic Party leadership will be "sensible".
The Democrats seeking to stop Pelosi's rise claim they have the votes to block her. Rep. Kurt Schrader of OR has said Pelosi "doesn't have the votes" to become Speaker again, in part because of the newly elected members who have promised to oppose her.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was elected to another term as party leader.
The rest of the GOP line-up is expected to shuffle slightly. Sen. Senate Democrats similarly backed Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.to retain his job as the Senate Minority Leader.
"People want to see change, and I think a lot of these candidates ran on change - and that includes our leadership team, which has been in place for 16 or 17 years now", Perlmutter said.
"This election cycle really was about delivering a check to this administration, and it would be quite disappointing if we do not do that for the people", Democratic Representative-elect Ilhan Omar of Minnesota told a news conference in Washington. They also warned that they need a new fundraising mechanism to compete with the small-dollar online donors that powered Democrats to victory. Democrat Bill Nelson could keep his seat.
Of the eleven seats still awaiting official winners, all of which had Republican incumbents, Democrats are leading in four of them.
There has been some modest internal opposition to Schumer of NY even though one of the two new Democratic senators-elect, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has said she wouldn't vote for him.
"Over the last week we've moved from relief at winning the House to rejoicing at a genuine wave of diverse, progressive and inspiring Democrats winning office", said Ben Wikler, Washington director of the liberal group MoveOn.
The contest between McCarthy and Jordan reflected the split between the GOP's conservative flank, whose numbers are bolstered after the election, and what remains of the centrists. "It's time for NEW LEADERSHIP in California".
The U.S. Congress returns on Tuesday for a post-election "lame-duck" session, facing a funding deadline to prevent a partial government shutdown, as well as demands for protections for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and money for a proposed U.S. -Mexico border wall. "We're not going to do that", he told reporters when asked about the prospect.
Mr. Trump warned of "the prospect of presidential harassment by the Dems", using the label Republicans have been using to refer to possible investigations of the executive branch once Democrats assumes control of the House in January.
Most GOP lawmakers, though, prefer McCarthy's more affable approach, and he remained favored to win Wednesday. Politico first reported Wednesday that Trump has privately pushed McCarthy to make a deal with Jordan.
The elder Cheney, who served as GOP conference chair from 1987 to 1989, was present for Wednesday's vote for his daughter. "But there's an opportunity for us to come together and get single-focused on the message".
On the Democratic side, Pelosi remains she's confident she'll have enough support to win when voting gets underway after Thanksgiving, and challenged her opponents Wednesday to put forward an alternative candidate.
