The U.S. House voted Tuesday to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker after Democrats joined with eight House Republicans to vote for a motion to vacate the chair.
Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz filed the motion to vacate the chair Monday night, which then picked up the support of Democrats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries “definitively” called for a vote against any procedural motion to delay the motion to vacate the chair earlier Tuesday and also said Democrats should vote to remove McCarthy.
Before the actual vote, there was a motion to table to the vote, which failed with 11 Republicans voting against the motion to table the vote.
The actual vote on the motion to vacate was 216-210. Republican Reps. Gaetz, Bob Good, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Rosendale, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck and Nancy Mace voted for the motion to vacate the chair.
“We need a Speaker who will fight for something, anything other than just becoming or staying Speaker. The polls show the public is blaming Biden and the Democrats for an imminent shutdown. If not fight now, when would we fight? Now is and was the time!,” Good said in a speech on the House floor before the vote.
US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) speaks to members of the media after speaking on the House floor about a possible Motion to Vacate to oust US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 2, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“The thing we have in common? 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,” Gaetz said on the floor before the vote.
Earlier in September, McCarthy challenged his GOP opponents to follow through with filing a motion to vacate the chair in a closed-door meeting with the conference, which came after Gaetz criticized McCarthy, giving him a list of demands while threatening a motion for McCarthy to vacate the chair. (RELATED: ‘File The F*cking Motion’: McCarthy Challenges GOP Opponents To Follow Through With Threat To Remove Him)
“If you want to file the motion,” McCarthy told his GOP colleagues Thursday, “file the fucking motion.” (RELATED: ‘Out Of Compliance’: Matt Gaetz Slams McCarthy On House Floor, Threatens Motion To Vacate The Chair)
There will now be votes to decide who the next Speaker of the House will be.
(This is a developing story. More information will be added as it becomes available.)