Kevin McCarthy makes history as the first House Speaker to be voted out of the position

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed as Speaker of the House in a vote initiated by members of his own party following his actions to prevent a government shutdown. Photo courtesy of Wikicommons

Amidst a potential government shutdown and the passing of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Congress faces yet another catastrophe with the sudden removal of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy, a Republican, served as a representative for California’s 20th District, which includes parts of Kern, Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties in Bakersfield. He was first elected to Congress in 2006 and only took over the position of speaker in January 2023. His short-lived time as speaker can be attributed to the actions he recently took in avoiding a government shutdown, which involved him going against his party’s wishes and passing a bill that aligns with Democrat initiatives.

Late last month, Congress found itself in a tricky situation. The government was days from a shutdown. If it couldn’t pass the 12 annual appropriation bills by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, the government would come to a financial halt. This means no spending, which also means federal workers won’t get paid, food stamps will stop and national facilities will close.

McCarthy had a difficult choice to make: he could either obey the wants of his own party, or he could avoid the shutdown — by working with the Democrats. 

Chapman Republicans President Charlie Sisk shared his belief that McCarthy was not an effective speaker and did not uphold the conservative ideals that he promised when he ran for the position. 

“I think that the House is better off with someone else,” Sisk said. “He did some okay things, but he wasn’t really that effective in his job. He didn’t really represent all of the Republican values.”  

The bill that McCarthy and the Democrats passed included a $16 billion increase to the disaster relief budget. This directly contradicts what the right-wing representatives were fighting for; they were looking for cuts in the budget rather than more funding. 

“As Speaker, you’re supposed to work with both sides and get both sides to agree,” Sisk said. “He worked with the Democrats, but I think that he sacrificed a lot of Republican fiscal values.” 

This fueled anger in McCarthy’s fellow party members, specifically Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1). Gaetz took this anger one step further and organized a vote to try and remove McCarthy from his position. 

With a 216- 210 vote from the House on Oct. 2, McCarthy was officially the first speaker to be removed in this way.

“He ran on the platform of being very fiscally conservative and mindful of the Americans tax dollars,” Sisk said. “But, Matt Gaetz and a lot of other Republicans believe he kind of stomped on that, and he didn’t uphold those values.”

McCarthy announced at a press conference the following night that he would not be running for speaker again. When asked whether he plans to remain in Congress, he replied: “I’ll look at that.” 

Currently, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) is the temporary speaker following McCarthy’s sudden removal. 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was first to announce his intention to run for speaker, being recently endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) have also voiced interest in running. 

There will be an election among the House Republicans on Oct. 11 to choose a replacement for the seat.