BREAKING: House votes to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker in a historic first
Published 4:06 pm Tuesday, October 3, 2023
- Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who hopes to become speaker of the House, is condemning the $1.7 congressional spending bill that passed Congress. GOP U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana is sitting behind McCarthy. (Photo courtesy of New York Post).
Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the job Tuesday in an extraordinary showdown, a first in U.S. history, The 216–210 vote, forced by a contingent of hard–right conservatives, throws the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.
McCarthy’s chief rival, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, brought forward the “motion to vacate” drawing together more than a handful of conservative Republican critics of the speaker and many Democrats who say he is unworthy of leadership.
Next steps are uncertain, but there is no obvious successor to lead the House Republican majority.
