Kevin McCarthy is no longer the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
A simple majority vote was needed Tuesday, and the vote was close — 216-210 to vacate the speakership.
Hard-line Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida led the charge against McCarthy, a fellow conservative. Gaetz introduced a so-called motion to vacate late Monday after criticizing how McCarthy has handled spending and budget fights since Republicans retook majority control of the chamber and claiming McCarthy can’t be trusted.
Joining Gaetz on the Republican side were Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Matt Rosendale of Arizona. All Democrats in the House voted to vacate.
McCarthy defended his record, including most recently in averting a partial federal government shutdown with Democratic support — calling himself “the adult in the room.” But that view did not persuade eight other members of the GOP who, along with the Democratic minority, voted to remove the speaker for the first time in history.
In voting against the motion to vacate, Kansas Republican Ron Estes said, “Dragging out internal personality disputes doesn’t help conservatives govern or achieve policy wins, and we should instead focus on championing our conservative legislative agenda and exposing the harms of Bidenflation and the Biden family culture of corruption.”
An interim speaker pro tempore, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, was quickly named but an internal election must be held for a permanent replacement.
