In the early hours of Saturday morning, U.S. Capitol crews pulled up a ladder outside the House speaker office to install a wooden sign over its front door.
Workers nailed a sign that read “Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy” above the office after he overcame a historic stalemate of conservative holdouts challenging the California Republican’s House leadership in the 118th Congress.
‘NIGHTMARE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’: DEMOCRATS BLAST MCCARTHY’S RISE TO SPEAKER
The sign is now up over the speaker’s office.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. pic.twitter.com/WUPh5FieDN
— Jay O’Brien (@jayobtv) January 7, 2023
McCarthy staffers posted pictures of the sign’s important presence atop the entrance to the speaker’s office.
.@SpeakerMcCarthy ??⬇️ pic.twitter.com/MndUgZRc4w
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) January 7, 2023
Shortly after the sign’s installation, the new House speaker posed for pictures in front of the physical proof that he was now officially the 55th person to serve as speaker of the House.
Kevin McCarthy stands beneath a new sign over his office door as he enters for first time after his election as House Speaker pic.twitter.com/xFnYKyOS7G
— John R Parkinson (@jparkABC) January 7, 2023
The space where the new sign was laid early Saturday morning had been bare since late December when former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s sign came down after the final vote of the 117th Congress.
After the final vote of the 117th Congress, crews are moving furniture and boxes out of the Speaker’s office suite.
Come the 118th Congress in January, the “Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi” sign over the door will come down for the 3rd and final time. pic.twitter.com/NZlmAz05fU
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) December 23, 2022
On Monday, McCarthy had already started to move into the House speaker’s office before the important leadership vote, the Daily Mail reported.
“McCarthy’s staff were seen moving his belongings into the Speaker’s chambers,” according to the report. “Earlier that day, his staff had been seen moving belongings and wheeling carts into the House Speaker’s office at the US Capitol.”
NBC News reporter Haley Talbot posted a video on Monday of blue bins from McCarthy’s office being moved into the speaker’s office.
GOP Leader McCarthy has moved into the speakers suite but if he fails to secure 218 he will have to move all his stuff back out @AllieRaffa pic.twitter.com/Lb2swMgQ2p
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotnbc) January 2, 2023
“If he fails to secure 218 he will have to move all his stuff back out,” Talbot wrote in a tweet.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona reported Monday that the early move was “standard protocol” but remarked that his speakership was “totally still up in the air. Just a remarkable moment we’re in.”
