The House this week is in an unprecedented position.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday became the first Speaker in history to be ousted from his position, throwing the chamber into chaos — and into its second wild Speakership race in less than a year.
The jockeying has already begun for the top spot. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced Wednesday he would seek the Speakership.
Follow along with live updates below.
Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said Wednesday that he thinks the House GOP conference would have devolved into a physical fight had lawmakers stayed in town after the Tuesday night vote to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) from his post.
“I’ll be really candid. I think if we had stayed together in the meeting last night, I think that you would have seen fists thrown,” Graves said in an interview on CNN’s “The Lead.” “And I’m not being dramatic when I say that.”
Graves, a key McCarthy ally, defended the decision of the acting Speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), to send lawmakers home until next week.
“There is a lot of raw emotions right now. I think it was best to let folks go back home, decompress a little bit and then come back together,” he said Wednesday.
Graves’s remarks come after McHenry’s decision has faced criticism from some who say the House should have stayed in session to elect a Speaker. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who spearheaded the effort to oust McCarthy, sharply criticized the decision in an interview Tuesday night.
— Sarah Fortinsky
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) had a tense exchange during a recent interview after the network anchor grilled the lawmaker’s decision to vote to remove former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
During an interview on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends,” Kilmeade pressed Burchett on whether he would have acted to remove McCarthy if Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) hadn’t done so.
“You’re happy following [Rep.] Matt Gaetz? Is that your leader?” Kilmeade asked.
“I’m not following Matt Gaetz. I made my own decision,” Burchett replied. “I didn’t ask Matt for his approval.”
“But if Matt Gaetz didn’t challenge, you weren’t going to challenge,” Kilmeade asked.
“I believe I would have,” Burchett said.
Kilmeade then appeared to take aim at Burchett’s previous comments that McCarthy’s “condescending” remarks about his faith sealed the deal.
— Olafimihan Oshin
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, delayed its fall 2023 gala scheduled for next week, as House Republicans work to elect a new House Speaker.
In a note to colleagues, NRCC Chairman Rich Hudson (R-N.C.) said House Republicans must focus on electing a new Speaker and accomplishing “the legislative work before us,” an NRCC spokesperson confirmed to The Hill. Punchbowl News was first to report.
“I wanted to send you an important update regarding the 2023 NRCC Fall Gala in Dallas, TX,” Hudson wrote in his letter. “I want you to be the first to know – in consultation with our Leadership team and many of you – we have decided to postpone this dinner.”
— Sarah Fortinsky
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) weighed in on the ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, calling the eight Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy “opportunists.”
Eight GOP lawmakers joined Democrats Tuesday to vote against McCarthy in a historic first-time removal of a House Speaker.
In an interview with John Catsimatidis on the “Cats & Cosby” show, Gingrich warned House Republicans that the eight rogue members do not have party loyalty.
“These are opportunists who are totally irresponsible,” Gingrich said. “All eight of these guys should get defeated in the next Republican primaries because they’re not really Republicans.”
— Lauren Irwin
Allies of toppled former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are fuming at Democrats for failing to back him amid his historic ejection — leaving Democrats arguing the GOP has no one to blame but themselves.
Republican ire hasn’t just been centered on the eight members of their own conference who ignited and backed the vote to oust McCarthy, but the Democrats who voted in unison to remove him.
And Speaker Pro Temp Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) exacted some swift revenge — booting both Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) from their hideaway offices in the Capitol.
But the offices are just the physical targets of a GOP seething that Democrats enabled a coup from the eight Republicans.
— Rebecca Beitsch
A growing chorus of Republicans are demanding the House change or get rid of the rule that paved the way for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ouster this week.
As part of the dramatic, 15-ballot election that handed McCarthy the gavel in January, the former Speaker agreed to lower the threshold to force a vote on a motion to vacate from five to one — which allowed Gaetz to single-handedly call for the vote this week.
Now, Republicans furious at the mutiny want to make sure that can’t happen again.
- Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.): “I’m not supporting ANYONE for Speaker until there is a commitment to reform the Motion to Vacate.”
- Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.): “I want to know how the next Speaker is going to ensure what happened yesterday never happens again.”
- Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.): “No Speaker should have this proverbial gun to their head when trying to do the right thing by the American people, especially in a divided government.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) in a statement Wednesday described his relationship with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy as “respectful, communicative and forward-looking.”
“On many occasions, we strongly disagreed with each other. However, we agreed to disagree without being personally disagreeable in order to find common ground whenever possible.”
Jeffries said he hoped and expected that McCarthy’s efforts to examine the competition between the U.S. and China, as well as further examination of artificial intelligence would carry on with the next House Speaker.
Calling McCarthy’s rise an example of the “power of possibility in America,” Jeffries wished McCarthy and his staff well.
A mad dash is kicking off in the House GOP to elect a new nominee for Speaker after the House ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the post Tuesday, and he declined to seek the gavel again.
Republicans expect to hold an internal candidate forum Tuesday and an election Wednesday.
Click here for the top GOP contenders for Speaker — and who is out of the running.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Wednesday he thinks Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) or Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) would be a “monumental upgrade” over former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“I know this — if it’s Speaker Jim Jordan or Speaker Steve Scalise, there will be very few conservatives in the country who don’t see that as a monumental upgrade over Speaker McCarthy,” Gaetz said during an appearance on Newsmax.
Both Scalise and Jordan have thrown their hats into the ring for the Speakership in the wake of McCarthy’s exit.
“I nominated Jim Jordan back in January,” Gaetz said. “Obviously, he’s someone I could vote for. Steve Scalise is also a great guy. I think the world of him. He’s someone I could vote for. So, I think that we’ll see a number of talented people come forward.”
— Tara Suter
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made ignominious history Tuesday when he became the first Speaker ever to be ousted by a vote of the House.
McCarthy defended his record and took shots at his tormentors during a Tuesday evening press conference. But by then he had also made known — to the consternation of his allies — that he would not seek to retake the gavel.
It’s been a series of dramatic days, and there is more turbulence to come.
The Hill’s Niall Stanage has five big takeaways:
- A government shutdown is more likely — and Ukraine aid more imperiled
- A big win for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
- Democrats got rid of the devil they know…
- Republicans caused themselves damage — but how much?
- Anger burns red hot on Capitol Hill
Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) said in a Wednesday interview that he would support a theoretical vote to remove from the GOP conference the eight colleagues who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the historic Tuesday vote.
“If it was up to me, I’d vote for it,” Joyce said in an interview on CNN’s “Inside Politics” when asked how he would vote on a theoretical effort to kick them out of the House GOP conference.
“It’s a waste of time having conversations with these people,” he added. “And I think we need to start working and, going forward, as a unified group.”
Joyce, who chairs the moderate caucus known as the Republican Governance Group, criticized his Republican colleagues for participating in conference meetings and then voting against the group’s agenda.
“I don’t see how they can really be part of a conference when … they come on the inside, listen to what’s going on, and go outside and lob bombs in the middle,” Joyce said in the interview.
— Sarah Fortinksy
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) slammed Democrats for “aligning themselves” with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on the vote to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“And I think he [Gaetz] has certainly alienated lots of people left and right,” Lawler, a moderate, told reporters while leaving the Speaker’s office Wednesday. “Which is why it’s all the more ironic that House Democrats align themselves with somebody who they believe is morally unfit to serve in public office and can come to Congress.”
When asked if he supports Reps. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) or Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) bids for Speakership, Lawler said he “isn’t getting into the Speaker’s race yet.”
— Miranda Nazzaro
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called on the next Speaker of the House to get rid of the motion to vacate, warning that keeping the controversial rule in place will make the next Speaker’s job “impossible.”
McConnell told reporters Wednesday that he didn’t have much advice to give House GOP lawmakers as they wrestle over electing a Speaker with one noble exception: Give the next Speaker more job security.
“I hope whoever the next Speaker is gets rid of the motion to vacate,” he said.
— Alexander Bolton
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) on Wednesday called to reform the motion to vacate that was used to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“I’m not supporting ANYONE for Speaker until there is a commitment to reform the Motion to Vacate,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “The coup against Speaker McCarthy was DESPICABLE & must never happen again.”
“No one can govern effectively while being threatened by fringe hostage takers.”
Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday the historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sets a “very bad precedent.”
“Let me make this very clear, this has set a very bad precedent that ought not to be repeated, and the threshold for the use of the motion to vacate ought to be very very high, and I don’t believe was met yesterday,” Molinaro, a moderate, told reporters ahead of entering the House Speaker’s office Wednesday.
When asked if he supports Reps. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) or Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) bids for the Speakership, Molinaro kept his cards close to his chest.
“I intend to to keep my powder dry and work to define who will best … will serve not only the conference, but the people I represent as well,” Molinaro said.
— Miranda Nazzaro