Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) was ousted as Speaker of the House on October 3 and the chair is now vacant.
McCarthy is the first Speaker of the House to ever be ousted in United States history. The last time a vote for a motion to vacate was called in 1910.
Salem High School graduate RJ Doroshewitz was one of the many who watched the vote from the House Gallery while the votes were being counted. “And in that time in between the last name being called and the gavel being struck, it was just dead silence. Nobody was moving. Nobody was speaking– you could hear a pin drop.”
The final vote was 216-210, 216 voting to oust McCarthy, including all of the Democrats and eight Republicans. Seven members of the House were absent and did not vote.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1) called for the vote to oust McCarthy.
After the vote during a phone interview, Doroshewitz said, “Even as the vote was going on, even as I heard some of the key Republicans vote against him, I still honestly didn’t really process until the end that it was actually happening.”
With the threat of a vote for the ouster, McCarthy said in an October 2 post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Bring it on.”
On September 30, the House avoided a government shutdown by passing a funding bill. McCarthy made compromises with Democrats to get their support to pass the measure to the displeasure of Gaetz and the House Freedom Caucus, a far-right group in the House.
In January, in order to get elected as Speaker, McCarthy agreed to House rule changes, including the right for a single person to call for the ouster of the Speaker.
Analysts recognized that in making the rule changes, the post of Speaker became vulnerable to ouster.
Rep. Patick McHenry (R-NC-10) will serve as the interim speaker. He declared an eight-day recess of the House until Wednesday, Oct. 11. Several Republicans, including Steve Scalise (R-LA-1) and Jim Jordan (R-OH-4) have stepped up to run to become the next Speaker. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) has been named to run, but given the Democrats are the minority party, the likelihood of him ascending to the position is low.
