In a historic move, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted before the presidential election.
This happened because Republicans were fighting among themselves, further confusing Congress, right after narrowly avoiding a government shutdown.
This vote, in which 216 people voted for and 210 against, is the first time in history that the House of Representatives has dismissed its leader.
Eight Republicans joined 208 Democrats in voting to remove McCarthy from office.
I will not run for Speaker of the House again. I may have lost my voice today, but I fought for what I believe in – and I believe in America. It was an honor to serve. https://t.co/4EMpOuwtzy
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy)
October 3, 2023
Who is Kevin McCarthy?
Kevin Owen McCarthy is an American politician. For a short time he was in charge of the House of Representatives of the United States of America in 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party and currently represents part of California.
He was born in Bakersfield, California and attended California State University there. He began to engage in politics in California, and then in 2006 he was elected to the US House of Representatives.
McCarthy has held important roles in the US Congress before. He helped the Republican Party as a leader.
He also became leader when his predecessor, Eric Cantor, lost his job in the primary. Kevin remained in that role even when a new Speaker, Paul Ryan, took office in 2015. In 2019, after the departure of Paul Ryan, McCarthy became the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
In the 2020 US presidential election, when Joe Biden won, McCarthy did not believe the results and supported Donald Trump’s claims of cheating. But when the US Capitol was attacked during the vote count, McCarthy changed his mind and blamed Trump for what happened. By 2022, he was friends with Trump again.
In 2022, McCarthy and his party did well in the elections and won more seats in the US House of Representatives.
In January 2023, McCarthy sought to become speaker again, and eventually won the post after many votes. While he was speaker, there was a big fight between his group and President Biden’s team over the country’s debt. They worked it out and made a new law.
But then in October 2023, the other members of the House of Representatives voted to remove McCarthy as Speaker. That was a big deal because it was very rare. He had one of the shortest tenures as speaker in US history, and is the first to be ousted during their time in office.
Why was Kevin McCarthy removed?
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, upset the Democrats. He launched an investigation into Biden and rushed through the bill without giving Democrats enough time to read it, which they needed to prevent a government shutdown.
The Democrats could have helped him, but chose not to because they felt it was not their job to solve the Republicans’ problems.
Now there could be new Republican leaders, like Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer, although they haven’t publicly said they want the job. For now, Patrick McHenry is temporarily in charge.
The last two Republican leaders, Paul Ryan and John Boehner, left their jobs after disagreements with members of their own party.
During the debate in the House of Representatives, some Republicans criticized McCarthy. They wanted a leader who was fighting for something, not just a speaker’s post.
Rep. Nancy Mace said she voted against McCarthy because he failed to keep his promises on women’s health issues.
On the other hand, McCarthy’s supporters, even some staunch conservatives, said he was controlling spending and working toward conservative goals, despite Democrats controlling the White House and the Senate. They warned of the chaos that could arise if there were new changes in leadership.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn