For the first time in American history, the House of Representatives successfully voted to remove the Speaker of the House.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) warned that if Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck a deal with the Democratic party to avoid a government shutdown, he would motion to vacate the speaker’s chair.
On Monday, Gaetz filed a motion to remove McCarthy as Speaker of the House. McCarthy responded on X, formerly Twitter, saying “Bring it on.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the House voted 216-210 in favor of vacating the chair. Eight Republicans joined all 208 Democrats in voting against McCarthy.
NBC News reported that a handful of moderate Democrats received phone calls from Republicans asking for their help in keeping the speaker in place.
However, the Democratic leadership advised their members to vote against McCarthy, and they listened.
According to MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin, Democrats were “infuriated” with McCarthy, after a Sunday morning TV appearance on CBS.
While on CBS, he blamed House Democrats for trying to shut down the government, even though House Democrats almost unanimously supported the funding bill. Of the House’s 221 GOP members, only 126 voted to keep the government open.
The speaker gave a list of potential replacements to the clerk before voting started, and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) became the speaker pro tempore.
The speaker pro tempore’s only job is to accept nominations and hold votes for a new speaker.
Until a speaker is voted on and approved, no other business can be done in the House, including negotiations on a budget to prevent a shutdown in November.
With McCarthy announcing he will not run again, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Steve Scalise (R-La.) stated that they’re running for the speakership.
The House reconvenes on Wednesday to begin voting for a new speaker.
