For the first time in American history, the speaker of the House of Representatives was ousted from office through a vote. The House voted 216-210 on Tuesday to remove Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with a handful of Republicans voting with Democrats to do so.
Last week, partisan infighting nearly resulted in a government shutdown. Matt Gaetz, a far-right Republican and Trump supporter, was the one who urged the House to remove McCarthy as speaker. McCarthy then told the media that he would not seek for speaker again and would “fight on, but [perhaps] in a different way.”
Kevin McCarthy’s spectacular demise
From January through October 2023, Kevin Owen McCarthy was the 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a member of the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2006 before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2006.
From 2009 to 2011, he was the House Republican chief deputy whip, and then the House majority in the 104 Republican primary. He held this role until Paul Ryan became Speaker of the House, after which he was elected House Minority Leader.
McCarthy initially supported Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud and participated in efforts to reverse the results when Joe Biden won the 2020 US presidential election. McCarthy, however, changed his previous statements on election fraud and blamed Trump for the 2021 US Capitol riot, which left the Republican Party badly divided.
By 2022, he had openly reconciled with Trump and led the House Republicans to a small majority in the 2022 elections.
McCarthy’s package to fund the federal government, which included massive government spending cutbacks and stringent border policies, failed to pass the House on September 29 after Democrats and 21 House Republicans refused to support it. If no financing measure is passed, the government will shut down on October 1.
Kevin McCarthy Faces Internal GOP Dissent Amid Government Funding Battle and Potential Speaker Replacement
Kevin McCarthy offered a temporary funding bill on September 30 that did not include major federal spending cutbacks but also did not include Ukraine assistance. As the Senate and President Joe Biden accepted McCarthy’s budget package, the government was kept from shutting down. After funding the government with Democratic support, McCarthy said, “If somebody wants to remove me because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try.”
On October 3, Gaetz filed a move to resign as chairman, citing his dissatisfaction with McCarthy’s efforts to reach a bipartisan agreement. The House is expected to go without a leader for at least a week. Until then, many Republicans have stated that they intend to meet on October 10 to debate potential McCarthy replacements, with a vote on a new speaker slated for October 11. McCarthy’s removal demonstrates how severely polarized and uncontrollable the G.O.P. is.
