MCCARTHY REMOVED AS SPEAKER, OKLAHOMA REPRESENTATIVES VOTED TO KEEP HIM

Speaker Kevin McCarthy

WASHINGTON, DC –

A handful of hardline Republicans successfully brought a historic motion to end Kevin McCarthy’s nine-month run as Speaker.

The last time the House held a vote to remove the Speaker was 113 years ago, in 1910, and it failed.

“We need a Speaker who will fight for something, anything, besides just staying or becoming Speaker,” Representative Bob Good (R-Virginia) said.

Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole led the pro-McCarthy floor arguments.

“The overwhelming majority of my party supports the Speaker that we elected,” Cole said.

But Florida’s Matt Gaetz, and some others in the Freedom Caucus, felt McCarthy crossed the line in passing a bipartisan continuing resolution to keep the government funded. He filed a motion to vacate.

“Honestly, they’re willing to plunge this body into chaos and this country into uncertainty for reasons only they really understand,” Cole said.

All of Oklahoma’s members voted to keep McCarthy as Speaker, but McCarthy lost the spot regardless.

Until a Speaker is chosen, the House can’t conduct any other business.