House Republicans elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as party leader

WASHINGTON - Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California ascended to the top job in House Republican leadership on Wednesday, while Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming followed in her father’s footsteps by taking the party’s No. 3 spot.

McCarthy prevailed over Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, 159-43, according to the House press gallery, while Cheney was elected by voice vote.

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is stepping down at the end of his term in January. That opened up the top spot in House Republican leadership, which following the GOP's defeat in last week's midterms will be House Minority Leader.

Both McCarthy and Jordan, a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, had announced their bid for the position. McCarthy, who serves in the No. 2 spot as House Majority Leader, made a bid for speaker in 2015 but stepped aside amid pressure from conservatives. With Ryan's backing - as well as a close relationship with President Donald Trump - McCarthy triumphed over Jordan.

The California Republican has leveraged his alliance with Trump to his advantage on Capitol Hill, where the president looms large over the House GOP conference. Trump has referred to McCarthy as "my Kevin" since before his inauguration, and McCarthy has at times gone to great lengths to curry favor with Trump, both through legislation - such as by introducing a bill that would appropriate more than $23 billion to Trump's border wall plan - and other means, such as sending the president his favorite candies.

The No. 2 spot of House Minority Whip was claimed Wednesday by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who serves in the third-ranking role in House GOP leadership. Scalise had mulled a bid against McCarthy but announced last week that he was pursuing the minority whip spot instead.

Cheney, who first won election in 2016 and is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, won the No. 3 spot of House Republican Conference Chair. Cheney launched her bid for the spot last Wednesday with a letter to colleagues in which she criticized Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who has held the position for three terms. McMorris Rodgers announced the next day that she was stepping aside from her leadership role and instead seeking to climb the ranks of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The elder Cheney, who served as GOP conference chair from 1987 to 1989, was present for Wednesday's vote for his daughter.

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The Washington Post’s Elise Viebeck, Mike DeBonis and John Wagner contributed to this report.