"It does show our party values strong female leadership," Brooks said of McMorris Rodgers' election.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, center, speaks to reporters after the House Republicans voted for their leadership for the next session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. House Republicans elevated Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., left, to lead the Republican Conference, with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., right, returning in his role. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, los angeles daily news R-Va., and Boehner were both reelected to their leadership posts.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., speaks to reporters after the House Republicans voted for their leadership for the next session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Cantor described his role in the investigation that led to the resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus, saying someone gave him information about the case that sounded like a potential "national security vulnerability" and he decided to take the matter to the FBI and its director, Robert Mueller.
Speaker of the House John Boehner, los angeles daily news R-Ohio, speaks to reporters after the House Republicans voted for their leadership for the next session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. He is flanked by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, and Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., right.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stinging from double-digit election losses among female voters, House Republicans elected a woman to their top leadership team Wednesday in a tense test of gender politics and the clout of the GOP's power brokers.
los angeles daily news The election of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state to the No. 4 leadership position among House Republicans dispatches los angeles daily news conservative favorite Tom Price of Georgia, who had been endorsed by Mitt Romney 's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. House Speaker John Boehner didn't take sides, but McMorris Rodgers was considered the leadership los angeles daily news favorite.
"It does show our party values strong female leadership," Brooks said of McMorris Rodgers' election. She said she expects the party now to "try and do a better job of getting our message out to a broader audience."
The race for such an obscure post carried big symbolism after women voted for Democrats by an 11-point margin in the presidential and generic congressional races, according to an exit poll by The Associated Press and television networks. Republicans widely decried their party's domination by white males, and Democrats declared themselves the party of diversity.
In the Senate, the GOP was once thought to be poised to gain control of the chamber but instead los angeles daily news lost two seats to Democrats. In the House, Republicans retained the majority but lost as many as eight seats, with some races still uncalled. And Obama defeated Romney 332-206 in the Electoral los angeles daily news College .
The lessons of the election weighed heavily on the lawmakers returning this week to Capitol Hill for a lame-duck, end-of-year session. McMorris Rodgers' supporters had touted her conservatism and her work as Romney's House liaison. Ryan touted Price as a proven leader and advocate of conservative policies on budget, tax and health care issues. Vote totals were not released.
Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi los angeles daily news , D-Calif., los angeles daily news surrounded herself with other female lawmakers to announce that she will run again for leader despite her party's failure to gain the 25 seats it needed to flip control of the House. The nation's first female speaker of the House, Pelosi largely skipped over that disappointment and focused on election results that she said made her caucus the most diverse los angeles daily news in history.
"The point is that if America is going to reach its full fulfillment as a nation, we must have the further empowerment of women," said Pelosi, who put the formality of leadership elections off until after Thanksgiving.
"Being actively involved in politics at this level is really insatiable," los angeles daily news Pelosi said. "There's so much more I want to do, I don't know how to get any more hours in the day. You can only sleep so less."
"There is no better person to preside over the most liberal House Democratic caucus in history than the woman who is solely responsible for relegating it to a prolonged minority status," said Paul Lindsay , spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee . "This decision signals that House Democrats have absolutely los angeles daily news no interest in regaining the trust and confidence of the American los angeles daily news people who took the speaker's gavel away from Nancy Pelosi in the first place."
Pelosi's announcement was one of several throughout the day that would give more clarity to the leadership and direction of the next Congress. As in the House, senators re-elected their top leaders, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell. Republicans elected Texas Sen. John Cornyn as the vote-wrangling los angeles daily news whip, South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the GOP conference chairman, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso as policy committee chairman and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran as chairman los angeles daily news of the National Republican Senatorial Committee , the party's campaign arm.
For Senate Democrats, los angeles daily news Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin remains whip and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York remains policy committee chairman. Washington Sen. Patty Murray will serve as secretary, leaving open the chairmanship of the Democrats' campaign committee. Colorado los angeles daily news Sen. Michael Bennet was said by Democratic officials to be a leading contender los angeles daily news for that spot.