The House will have a new speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted on Oct. 3, the first time in history the chamber has removed its speaker.
In the evening, Mr. McCarthy informed his conference that he would not run for speaker again, according to Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
Mr. McCarthy, who was the 55th speaker, told the caucus that he did not want to surrender to the Democrats, according to Mr. Hern.
Lawmakers React to McCarthy’s Ouster
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who was one of the Republicans who joined Democrats to strip Mr. McCarthy of the gavel, told CNN that Mr. McCarthy mocked him for praying for guidance on a decision on whether to oust him as speaker.Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Epoch Times’ sister outlet NTD that he has reached out to Republicans about making House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) Mr. McCarthy’s permanent successor.
Rep. Annie Custer (D-N.H.), chairwoman of the moderate New Democrat Caucus, told reporters that Mr. McCarthy made a mistake in lowering the threshold of the number of members to file a motion to vacate the chair to just one. The former speaker had struck this deal with a contingent of staunch conservatives to win the gavel in January.
“By making that decision every day since, the American people have suffered because he’s veered to the most extreme of his party, of the Republican House,” she said.
“And they’ve essentially been in control and if it doesn’t reflect the will of the people, you know, so, I mean, this is what’s going on in their caucus right now,” continued Ms. Custer. “You know, that’s why we keep saying it’s an internal feud, a civil war, if you will, within their party.”
Supporters of the former speaker expressed disappointment in the outcome.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) said he hoped that Mr. McCarthy would continue to fight. “I don’t think McCarthy is going to give up. He hasn’t given up before and the overwhelming majority of the conference agrees with the path we set forward” such as curbing spending.
“This is in a democracy and it’s unfortunately dysfunctional,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “And that’s not good for the country. We don’t have a speaker.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman of the House Rules Committee, said that those who voted in favor of ousting Mr. McCarthy “have no plan,” but said that the House GOP was not self-destructing.
This was the first time a speaker was removed through a motion to vacate. The previous time there was such a vote was in 1910 and it was unsuccessful. In 2015, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) resigned from Congress before there could be a vote on a motion to vacate after Freedom Caucus members expressed dissatisfaction with him holding the gavel.
Mr. McCarthy has said he would stay in Congress even if he is ousted as speaker.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has been named as speaker pro tempore a replacement being voted in.
Possible names to permanently succeed Mr. McCarthy include House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). All of them expressed support for Mr. McCarthy. While Mr. Scalise has been seen as a logical successor, he has been battling cancer which would likely cause him to miss some time from Congress.
