In historic move, McCarthy has been removed from speakership after Rep. Matt Gaetz and 7 other Republicans voted to vacate.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy lost the speaker’s gavel on Tuesday after 8 Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla) edged the majority in a 216-210 vote.
Tensions between the establishment and America First wing of the Republican Party came to a head as the House narrowly voted to vacate McCarthy thanks to Gaetz and 7 other Republicans.
#BREAKING News: The House has voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House pic.twitter.com/lRgtXZQkcw
— 🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 (@Travis_in_Flint) October 3, 2023
The Republican ‘yes’ votes were as follows:
- Gaetz (Fla.)
- Biggs (Ariz.)
- Buck (Colo.)
- Crane (Ariz.)
- Good (Va.)
- Mace (S.C.)
- Burchett (Tenn.)
- Rosendale (Mont.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Monday filed a motion to formally remove McCarthy from his role as speaker citing the secret side deal he reportedly made with Joe Biden on funding Ukraine after averting a government shutdown by spearheading a continuing resolution to fund the government for another 45 days.
McCarthy taunted the rare procedural move by Gaetz, telling the Florida congressman on X to “Bring it on.”
Gaetz responded to the post with one of his own, writing, “Just did.”
Just did. https://t.co/zdQk3GblbV
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 2, 2023
McCarthy’s tough front appeared to vanish on Tuesday when he admitted that only 5 Republicans would need to join the Democratic caucus to remove him as speaker.
JUST IN: Speaker Kevin McCarthy appears worried about the chance he will be ousted as House speaker, says only a few Republicans will need to side with Democrats.
Reporter: “Do you need [Democrats] help to remain in leadership?”
McCarthy: “No. If five Republicans go with… pic.twitter.com/KB6VLDHOWs
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 3, 2023
Gaetz on the House floor prior to the vote reminded his colleagues that not addressing Biden and the Democrats’ massive spending that’s piling on the $33 trillion national debt presents a much more chaotic scenario than simply voting for better Republican leadership in the House.
I don’t think voting against @SpeakerMcCarthy is chaos.
I think $33 Trillion in debt is chaos.
I think not passing single-subject spending bills is chaos.
I think being governed by continuing resolutions and omnibus bills is chaos.
Chaos is somebody we cannot trust with their… pic.twitter.com/e3Nx2kIdyZ
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 3, 2023
He also pointed out that Republican leadership has failed to deliver on key promises made to GOP constituents.
“It is difficult to champion oversight, when House Republicans haven’t even sent a subpoena to Hunter Biden. So, it’s hard to make the argument that Oversight is the reason to continue when it…looks like failure theater,” he said.
The move is historic and humiliating for McCarthy as a House Speaker has never been successfully removed from the role — and after only 8 months at that.
It has yet to be determined who Republicans will replace McCarthy with.
