House Votes To Oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker

Updated Oct. 3, 2023, 5:00 p.m. EST

• The House voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The unprecedented move narrowly passed with 216 yeas from 208 Democrats and 8 Republicans and 210 nays, all from GOP members. The chamber is currently without a leader. 
• Just minutes after McCarthy was ousted, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) was named interim speaker pro tempore. McHenry is one of McCarthy's top allies and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
• The House is essentially unable to function until a successor is chosen. 

What’s the story?

• Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Cali.) plans to call a vote on the right-wing effort to rid him of his chair today.
• McCarthy declared that he had no intention of giving Democrats concessions to help him survive the vote. He said he is confident of his ability to keep the speakership.
• The Washington Post and the Guardian’s U.S. politics live blog reported that all Democrats and Republicans plan to vote against Speaker McCarthy. 

Removing McCarthy

• The effort to remove McCarthy from his position is being led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — a result of McCarthy opting to avoid a government shutdown by relying on Democrats pushing through the stopgap spending bill, which Gaetz objected to. 
• On Monday evening, Gaetz rose to introduce a resolution to declare the speakership vacant, which started the process to force a vote within the next few days. This is seen as a form of political punishment that only two other speakers in history have been subjected to besides McCarthy. 
• Gaetz said:

“It is becoming increasingly clear who the speaker of the House already works for, and it’s not the Republican conference.”

• The Florida representative noted McCarthy’s dependence on Democrats to pass the funding bill, asserting it was a “secret deal” that required lying to Republicans.
• Minutes after Gaetz filed the resolution, McCarthy wrote on social media:

“Bring it on.”

What they’re saying

• McCarthy said on Monday:

“I think it’s disruptive to the country, and my focus is only on getting our work done. I want to win the vote so I can finish the job for the American people. There are certain people who have done this since the day we came in.”

• Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Cali.) said he could not “conceive of a more counterproductive and self-destructive course” for his own party. He continued:

“I implore my Republican colleagues to look past their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views.”

• Chair of the New Democrat Coalition Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) said:

“You are only as good as your word – and time and again, Speaker McCarthy has proven that he is not a man of his word. He is simply not trustworthy. While Republicans have lost their way, Democrats stand united in our purpose and our caucus.”

Do you support removing Speaker Kevin McCarthy?

-Jamie Epstein