The speakership bid has been a high-wire act for Republican Kevin McCarthy, who must keep his party's moderates united behind him while getting opponents on the right on his side. (File photo: AFP/Getty Images North America/Anna Moneymaker)

WASHINGTON: United States Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was a simple up-or-down vote from realising his dream of becoming one of the country's top statesmen on Tuesday (Jan 3) in a cliffhanger worthy of TV drama House of Cards that could as easily end with his career in tatters.

The California congressman is vying for the speakership of the House of Representatives and needs a simple majority - 218 votes if every lawmaker shows up - when the lower chamber of Congress opens for the new term.

Having failed in a previous bid, McCarthy has long coveted the role of Washington's top legislator, the parliamentary and political leader who presides over House business and is second in line to the presidency.

Yet in the best traditions of the political thriller, there will be intrigue until the credits roll, with the threadbare 222 Republican majority opening the path for a potential rearguard action from anti-McCarthy spoilers.

Six House Republicans - enough to keep McCarthy from securing the gavel - have come out against him, with three saying they are a firm "no" and the rest "almost certainly" opposed.

McCarthy withdrew from the speaker race in 2015 amid a number of blunders and a right-wing revolt.

In a sign of his continuing propensity to divide rather than unify, far right flamethrower Marjorie Taylor Greene and her normally close ally Matt Gaetz had dueling columns in the conservative Daily Caller before Christmas.

"Every single Republican in Congress knows that Kevin does not actually believe anything. He has no ideology," Gaetz wrote.

Greene, who is believed to have been offered considerable influence in return for her backing, retorted that McCarthy's opponents were lying "when they claim a consensus House Speaker candidate will emerge".