This came after four days and 14 failed ballots, the longest the House has gone leaderless in a century.

The standoff ended with far-right Republican holdouts voting present, which dropped the tally McCarthy needed.

The tally was 216-212 with Democrats voting for leader Hakeem Jeffries, and six Republican holdouts to McCarthy simply voting present.

The agreement McCarthy presented to the holdouts from the Freedom Caucus and others centers around rules changes they have been seeking for months. Those changes would shrink the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence in drafting and passing legislation.

At the core of the emerging deal was the reinstatement of a House rule that would allow a single lawmaker to make a motion to “vacate the chair,” essentially calling a vote to oust the speaker.

Other wins for the holdouts include provisions in the proposed deal to expand the number of seats available on the House Rules Committee; to mandate 72 hours for bills to be posted before votes; and to promise to try for a constitutional amendment that would impose federal limits on the number of terms a person could serve in the House and Senate.

Member-elects were finally sworn into office following the election of McCarthy as Speaker, including 23rd Congressional District Representative Nick Langworthy.

Langworthy, who supported McCarthy through the entire balloting process, issued a statement that said, “Kevin McCarthy led us to a majority and he will be an incredible leader for the House of Representatives. We will keep our Commitment to America by reducing inflation, securing our borders, taking on China and fighting for safer communities for all of us.”

Chautauqua County Court Judge Dave Foley leads a ceremonial oath of office for 23rd Congressional District Congressman-Elect Nick Langworthy. Langworthy’s daughter, Madeline, holds the Bible for the oath.

Congressman-Elect Nick Langworthy returned to his alma mater of Pine Valley Central School for a ceremonial swearing in event Wednesday evening.

Langworthy stood with his young daughter, Madeline, as Chautauqua County Court Judge Dave Foley led him through his Oath of Office in front of a crowd of supporters.

Langworthy said the gravity of the moment of taking the oath in the high school he graduated from 23 years ago is not lost on him, “When I think back to my younger self and the values and work ethic that were instilled in me by teachers, and faculty, and coaches right here at Pine Valley and I’m reminded by how lucky I was to come of age in this building, in this school district, in this great small town. This is the building where my dreams began to take shape. Where my passion for service and my drive to do my part to make this world a better place was formed.”

In his remarks, he cited working on inflation, strengthening the workforce, securing the border, and working on supply chain issues.

He said working on energy policy will be his first priority, especially in the aftermath of the blizzard in Buffalo, “How unfortunate of a circumstances could we have been in if that radical left environmental agenda had abolished natural gas use in New York or abolished wood heating in New York? What if that had been on line during this blizzard with sub-zero windchill, with no end in sight of power coming on for some people with impassable roads? Our death toll would be staggering.”

Langworthy said he hopes to get a seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, but that won’t be known until mid to late-January.

Langworthy will be officially sworn in as the representative for the 23rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

Joe Sempolinski

Representative Joe Sempolinski is looking back at the highlights of his four-month tenure in Congress.

Sempolinski has represented the 23rd Congressional District following a special election in August. He replaced Tom Reed who had resigned.

He said passing the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act was his proudest accomplishment, “This law is going to have a profound effect on those with disabilities. It’s going to make a difference in their lives. And helping Americans with disabilities is the cornerstone of my time in office.”

He said he also was proud of helping nearly 300 constituent calls from the district.

One item that Sempolinski supported that did not get completed was the passage of the “Words Matter Act” to replace the “r” word in the U.S. Code with more respectful terminology to identify those with developmental disabilities.

He said he has spoken with House members who are returning next term about getting that bill reintroduced, including incoming Representative Nick Langworthy, “Talking about bipartisanship, on that bill you have Conservative Republicans, you have Liberal Democrats, and that is some place again where you’re dealing with community, in this case, the developmentally disabled, that people of all ideological descriptions want to be part of supporting.”

Sempolinski said he anticipates that the bill will get passed in the new session given the level of bipartisan support it has.

23rd Congressional Representative Joe Sempolinski discusses the GOP winning the House, what legislation he anticipates for the remainder of the session, and his thoughts on the possible Railroad Strike.

Joe Sempolinski

Joe Sempolinski, Nick Langworthy

Congressman Joe Sempolinski said Nick Langworthy is a good fit for the new 23rd Congressional District.

Sempolinski said being a former Congressional District Director is the best preparation someone can have to becoming a member of Congress, “And one thing Mr. Langworthy and I have in common is he is a former Congressional District Director. He has worked in that capacity for previous members of Congress and I think that will put him into be doing a job that is focused on the people of the new 23rd district.”

Sempolinski, who is representing the current 23rd Congressional District, said he’s been in contact with two members-elect and the sitting member whose new districts overlap with the old 23rd district, “Nick (Langworthy) will be responsible for six of the counties that I currently represent. Claudia Tenney will be responsible for three of them and Marc Molinaro will be responsible for two. And these are all people I have a great relationship with. They’re all people I’ve know for years. They’re all people I have a good line of communication with and they’re all people we’ve been discussing constituent issues. We’ve been discussing transition issues.”

Sempolinski credited Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin‘s strong campaign as to why Republican Congressional candidates had success at the polls, leading to seven new representatives from the Republican party joining the four Republican incumbents who won re-election in New York State.

Governor Kathy Hochul is attempting to secure a full four-year term on the Democratic and Working Families line against Republican and Conservative endorsed candidate Lee Zeldin. Zeldin currently is the 1st Congressional District Representative. Hochul took over as Governor following Andrew Cuomo‘s resignation in August 2021. For the Lieutenant Governor’s race, Antonio Delgado is running with Hochul and Alison Esposito is running with Zeldin

Voters from Chautauqua County across to Stueben County and now part of Erie County will vote on a new representative for the new 23rd Congressional District. Republican Nick Langworthy is facing Democrat Max Della Pia for that seat. The pre-2020 census district was formerly led by Tom Reed for the last 10 years and is currently represented by Joe Sempolinski.

Longtime incumbent and Democrat Chuck Schumer is running for re-election against Republican Joe Pinion and LaRouche party candidate Diane Sare.

Two other statewide offices on the ballot include incumbent State Attorney General Letitia James on the Democratic and Working Families line facing Michael Henry on the Republican and Conservative lines.

And incumbent State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on the Democratic and Working Families lines is facing Paul Rodriguez on the Republican and Conservative lines.

In State Legislative races, incumbent State Senator George Borrello is running on the Republican and Conservative lines for the 57th District against Dan Brown on the Democratic line. Incumbent Assemblyman Andy Goodell is also running on the Republican and Conservatives lines against Democrat Sandra Lewis.

In Chautauqua County races, the County Sheriff race is unopposed with incumbent Jim Quattrone running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

There are two special elections for the Chautauqua County Legislature.

In District 7, incumbent John Penhollow is running on the Republican and Conservative lines against Barbara Colt who is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines. Penhollow was appointed to fill the seat after Mark Odell resigned in July 2021.

In District 10, Republican incumbent Jaime Gustafson is running unopposed. She was appointed to fill the seat after Ken Lawton resigned due to moving out of the district. District 10 represents the southwest side of Jamestown, the Village of Lakewood and part of the Town of Busti.

In the City of Jamestown, a special election for the Ward 5 City Council seat is being held between incumbant Bill Reynolds on the Republican and Conservative lines and Democrat Doug Lawson. The winner of that race will fill out the remainder of that seat’s term following Grant Olson declining to take the seat after the 2021 election.

There are five seats open for the 8th Judicial State Supreme Court Justices. Running on all four lines of Democratic, Republican, Conservative and Working Families is Craig Hannah. Kelly Vacco and Gerald Greenan III are running on the Democratic, Republican, and Conservatives lines. Shannon Heneghan is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines. And Joseph Lorigo is running on the Republican and Conservatives lines.

There is one proposition located on the back of the ballot.

The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Clean Jobs Environmental Bond Act would, if approved, authorize New York State to borrow $4.2 billion to fund environmental protection, natural restoration, resilience, and clean energy projects.

The State Legislature has already approved the plan, which allows the state to sell the bonds immediately after approval. But in order to sell the bonds, the state has to get approval from voters.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. in Chautauqua County.

For all of WRFA’s Election coverage, visit https://www.wrfalp.com/election-2022/

For voting information, including sample ballots and voting locations, visit VoteChautauqua.com

We’ll have Election Night coverage starting at 8pm tonight on 107.9 WRFA-LP.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley holds a discussion between the candidates for the new 23rd Congressional District Seat. The discussion features Republican candidate Nick Langworthy and Democrat Max Della Pia.

Max Della Pia, Nick Langworthy

Representative Joe Sempolinski discusses Town Hall public events he plans to hold across the 23rd Congressional District in his weekly media call.

Joe Sempolinski

Joe Sempolinski

Representative Joe Sempolinski will be holding town hall meetings in each of the 11 counties of the current 23rd Congressional district.

Sempolinski, in his weekly media call, said the town hall for Chautauqua County will be held at 8:00 a.m., Saturday, November 5th at the town of Carroll Town Hall in the village of Frewsburg.

He said it’s his goal to get to every county before the final session of Congress takes place after elections to hear the thoughts and concerns of the people of the district, “I think it’s always better to make sure the ideas are flowing in that direction as opposed to bad ideas from Washington D.C. being inflicted on the people back home. It’s better to have the wisdom of the people from the district going into Washington D.C. as we’re making policy. So, if you’re going to be a good representative you need to listen to the people. You need to listen to the people you work for.”

Sempolinski said in his talks with people, there’s a feeling that government doesn’t listen to them, “That they feel disconnected from their government. That could be federal, that could be state. And that’s why I’m so committed to accessibility. That’s why I’m so committed to the town hall meeting format. If you come to one of my town hall meetings, you can ask me any questions you want to ask.”

Sempolinski said all town hall meetings will be open to the public.

Joe Sempolinski

Congressman Joe Sempolinski discussed concerns about student loan forgiveness in his first media call as the 23rd District‘s new representative.

Sempolinski, who was sworn in September 13, was named to the Education and Labor Committee, and Budget Committee. He said one of the topics that came up in the Education and Labor Committee was the student loan forgiveness program recently announced by President Joe Biden.

Sempolinski said his concerns with the program is that it’s not fair, “So it’s not fair to people who have paid off their loans on time. It’s not fair to people who are working in jobs where they didn’t get a loan. And also, the president doesn’t have the authority to do it in the first place. This wasn’t passed via law. This wasn’t something that we voted on in the House of Representatives, United States Senate. It was done by executive action and I don’t believe, constitutionally, the president has the authority to do it.”

Sempolinski added that all constituent offices in the district are fully operational again. The Congressman will be in Jamestown on Friday, September 23 for the Chautauqua Chamber of Commerce‘s annual Congressional Breakfast. The event will take place at Moonbrook Country Club.