The United States House of Representatives voted to remove Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy from the position. McCarthy became the first U.S. House Speaker to be ousted through a voting by a narrow vote of 216-210.
It was the first time in U.S. history that the House removed its leader as eight Republican representatives voted with 208 Democrats to oust McCarthy from the position.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a conservative critic, forced the vote to oust McCarthy as the House Speaker after presenting specific demands before the weekend deadline to avert a government shutdown.
After losing the House votes, McCarthy said that he would not run for the position again. He told reporters during a press conference at the Capitol, “I may have lost this vote today, but as I walk out of this chamber, I feel fortunate to have served.”
Kevin McCarthy said, “I fought for what I believe in. I believe I can continue to fight, but maybe in a different manner.”
McCarthy had faced significant criticism from Republican Representatives within his own party for what they perceived as his leniency toward the Biden administration on multiple issues, including the Pentagon’s financial backing for Ukraine.
Far-right Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz said, “Speaker McCarthy has failed to take a stand where it matters… The reason Kevin McCarthy went down today is because nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy.”
Gaetz said that he forced the vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as the House Speaker because he had made “multiple contradictory promises, and when they all came due, he lost votes of people who maybe don’t even ideologically agree with me on everything.”
After the voting, McCarthy’s ally Patrick McHenry took the gravel to assume the role of the speaker pro tempore. McHenry would serve as the Speaker of the House until the new Speaker is selected.
Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker earlier this year after 15 rounds of voting held over five days and painstaking negotiations. However, McCarthy was only able to be elected after making concessions and vows to GOP holdout negotiations. In May 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement in principle to raise the debt ceiling and cap spending.
