Samantha Soued '24
As of October 26th, a new Speaker of the House was elected: Mike Johnson.
On October 3rd, Californian Republican Kevin McCarthy was the first Speaker of the House to be voted out, after only serving for nine months. What did he do? He compromised with the Democratic House Representatives to avoid the impending government shutdown.
58 year old Kevin McCarthy had been serving in the House of Representatives since 2007. Coming from a working class family, he began his political career shortly after scoring $5,000 from a winning lottery ticket. When his mentor, Rep. Bill Thomas, retired, McCarthy took his seat in the House. The ambitious Californian was the majority leader in 2014, minority leader in 2018, and majority leader again in 2022. He had one goal for his career: to be Speaker of the House.
With rumors of marital infidelity and his moderate political position, McCarthy struggled to secure the 218 votes he so desired. He had to get the support of the eight far-right representatives, which proved extremely difficult. Desire morphed into desperation, and he agreed to something that came back to haunt him: a rule that allows as few as five representatives to trigger a vote on removing him from the speaker ship. On January 7, and after fifteen unsuccessful ballots, Kevin McCarthy won the position of the Speaker of the House.
During his short term as Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy failed to find common ground between Democrats and a far-right group of House Republicans. As Congress was coming close to an economically damaging government shutdown (due to budget disagreements), McCarthy compromised with Democrats to pass a stopgap (temporary) measure that prolonged government funding until the middle of November.
The eight Republicans led by Floridian Rep. Matt Gaetz were opposed to the compromise and filed a motion to remove Kevin McCarthy from office. The votes were 216 - 210, with all of the Democrats and eight of the Republicans voting to remove McCarthy from the speakership. Didn’t McCarthy just make a deal with Democrats? Why did they vote against him?
At the private meeting prior to the historic vote, Democratic minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and representatives agreed that they distrusted Kevin McCarthy. Californian Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff explained, “At the end of the day, the country needs a speaker that can be relied upon. We don’t trust him. Their members don’t trust him. And you need a certain degree of trust to be the speaker.”
Some speculate that the Democrats voted McCarthy out because they want the Republican Party to be in disarray, which would push people to vote blue in the upcoming elections. “It is now the responsibility of the GOP members to end the House Republican Civil War,” Jeffries stated. What the House Democrats didn’t think about is that ousting a centrist Republican means that the next Speaker will be farther right (and less willing to compromise with them).
What now? North Carolinian Patrick McHenry was named speaker pro tempore, an interim speaker. Kevin McCarthy already stated that he will not run again. After the vote to oust him was declared, McCarthy kept his cool: “I don’t regret standing up for choosing governance over grievance.”
A decision was made to vote in another speaker, rather than expand McHenry’s powers. Jim Jordan, who was a promising candidate earlier in the month, lost two elections. There is no clear choice for the Republican party. As of October 24th, eight House Republicans are running for the speaker ship.
Congress has become extremely polarized, both within and between political parties. Kevin McCarthy’s circumstances demonstrate the need for some reflection. Politicians should prioritize the common good of the nation, rather than simply push a personal agenda. In the upcoming weeks, the United States will be watching the chaos on Capitol Hill unfold.
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