WASHINGTON – It’s been over 100 years since the United States House Floor saw a vote to remove the speaker of the house, as they did Tuesday. While the 1910 motion to remove House Speaker Joseph Cannon, who faced opposition from within his own Republican Party, ultimately failed, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., became the first speaker in U.S. history to be removed from the position.
Eight Republicans joined Democrats in a 216 – 210 vote to vacate or formally remove the speaker. McCarthy had held the job for less than a year.
“Chaos is speaker McCarthy. Chaos is somebody we cannot trust with their word,” said Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who put forth the motion to remove McCarthy. “The one thing that the White House, House Democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican Caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common (is) Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didn’t really mean and never intended to live up to.”
McCarthy’s removal comes after McCarthy aligned with Democrats over the weekend to avoid a government shutdown, through the passage of a temporary funding bill. The bill will fund the government until Nov. 17, but McCarthy received criticism over the bipartisan deal from a small number of Republicans, including Gaetz.
In addition to Gaetz, Republican House Members who voted to remove McCarthy included Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and Rep. Bob Good of Virginia.
Despite McCarthy’s ultimate removal, most Republicans voted against ousting him. Statements made by fellow Republicans, including Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Tom Cole, R-Ok., in support of McCarthy’s speakership were met with applause and at least one standing ovation from a large number of House Republicans on the floor, prior to the vote taking place.
“No speaker has ever been fired in our history for doing too good a job, for being too successful, for helping his party and his country,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told reporters just hours before the vote to vacate took place. “And that’s what they’re asking right now.”
With the speakership vacated by McCarthy, it’s unclear who Republicans will select to take his place, however, Majority House Leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was one of several names mentioned around the Capitol Tuesday.
“I haven’t made any deals,” Burchett said outside the House chamber before the vote. “Steve would be an excellent choice, though.”
In the meantime, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina became the interim speaker following McCarthy’s removal and will oversee the election of the next speaker – a process that took McCarthy 15 tries back in January.
Juliann Ventura contributed to the reporting of this article.