Hello, my name's Holly. I'm at the Moore Theater in Seattle, Washington for the comedy tour for my other favorite and fjr show. Wait, wait, don't tell me. This pod was recorded that 1136 AM on Tuesday, November 15. Okay, enjoy the show.

I was really hoping she was going to make a joke like my other favorite comedy show up first.

Now that was hilarious. Really you guys should listen to it. Hey there. It's the NPR Politics podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. Susan Davis, I cover politics. And I'm Mara Liesen National Political Correspondent.

It is likely that today the House of Representatives will be called for Republicans that they will win control in the next Congress. And the House Republican Conference plans to move forward today with leadership elections.

But real quick, before we get to that, Mara, are you surprised that it's like a full week after the election and the balance of power in the House is only finally fully in focus?

Well, I would have been surprised if you asked me a couple of weeks ago, but after what we saw in election day, no, it's not surprising. Not only are we a deeply divided country, but we're an evenly divided country.

And when we're so evenly divided and as the House is going to be, regardless what kind of margin Republicans get, we know it's going to be a tiny one takes a long time to count votes.

And some states count votes slower than others. So we have now learned to call election day election week or more.

So there is an election happening today of sorts for Republican leadership. Why are they doing that now when they won't, the new Congress won't start until January?

Well, it's pretty typical after an election for the parties to come back and organize.

I think if today is essentially giving Kevin McCarthy the nomination to be speaker.

The speaker is the only constitutional officer in congressional leadership. And so on the first day of the new Congress, the first order of business is to elect a speaker. And it is there that he will truly be elected speaker.

And it is there that he's going to need a majority of the whole House. Now that is typically 218 votes if all 435 members of the House are present and voting.

Okay, so we will get to that math in in a moment, but you did this piece about Kevin McCarthy. He is the current minority leader. He's from California. And we are expecting that today he will pursue that job. He's, he's obviously he's already been pursuing it, but that he will seek the votes of his members behind closed doors and a, in an anonymous vote.

And you did this piece for morning edition that I think we should just listen to that unearth sounds of young Kevin McCarthy and also the Kevin McCarthy who joined the Congress and sort of captures his evolution over time.

Sure, I mean, this is a guy who has been considered a star since he got here. He was first elected in 2006.

He had quickly been elected into the leadership in the California State Assembly when he served there before Congress. And when he came to Washington, he was a Republican very typically in the mold of that George W. Bush era.

His first speech on the House floor was speaking out against a federal bill to raise the minimum wage.

I came to Congress to work to increase opportunity for all Americans, not to harm workers and small businesses often described as sunny and gregarious with an obsession with campaign politics.

McCarthy was quickly dubbed a young rising star in the party along with then Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

Together, the trio were the minority party self-proclaimed young guns who wrote a 2010 book, went on a book tour and produced a glossy Hollywood style ad to promote their agenda on themselves.

Joined by common sense conservative candidates from across the country, together they are ready to make history. Together they are the young guns.

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