Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker in a historical first on Tuesday, October 3rd. The motion was led by Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, who demanded that McCarthy to pass bills with budget cuts. McCarthy instead opted to support a deal that would avoid a government shutdown with a 45-day, last second budget extension.
Kevin McCarthy, Photo Courtesy: CBS
Gaetz was a vocal critic of McCarthy throughout his term as Speaker, stating that he had broken his word to conservatives on spending bills, as well as the way that he would run the House. The ousting follows through on a threat that Gaetz made last week, when he stated he would oust McCarthy from his Speaker position after relying on Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.
The ousting of McCarthy from his Speaker position is a historical first, making McCarthy the first Speaker in history to be ousted by the vote of the House in the middle of their congressional term. The role of Speaker has temporarily been passed down to Representative Patrick McHenry, who was the first name on McCarthy’s list in the case of vacancy of the role of the Speaker.
Republicans and McCarthy supporters have already begun looking for a new candidate to fulfill the Speaker role after McCarthy announced that he would not be running for re-election of Speaker, stating, “I will not run for Speaker again. I’ll have the [Republican] conference pick somebody else.”
The 216 to 210 vote to remove McCarthy came largely from Democrats, however, eight Republicans who are considered hard line conservatives contributed to voting out McCarthy. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina however, who is the only Republican of the eight who voted out McCarthy who is not considered to be on the far right. Mace explained that the reason she voted out McCarthy was due to his lack of action on women’s issues and community safety. She would go on to say on social media; “This is about trust and keeping your word.”
It is unclear how long it will take the Republican majority of the House to select a new candidate for Speaker, with it taking fifteen rounds across four days for McCarthy to secure the Speaker position when he was elected in January.
Gaetz posted on X, formerly Twitter, about the news of McCarthy’s ousting, saying; “The fight is not over. Now we must elect a Speaker.”
Matt Gaetz, Photo Courtesy: Inquirer
Representative Tom McClintock, a California Republican like McCarthy, claims that the removal of McCarthy would bring the House to a halt as lawmakers begin to work to elect a new Speaker. “…The House will be paralyzed…we can expect week after week of fruitless ballots while no other business can be conducted.”