Kevin McCarthy loses key vote, could be ousted as speaker today

Kevin McCarthy is on the verge of being ousted as speaker of the House after he lost a key vote to stop the coup against his leadership.

The House voted 218-208 Tuesday afternoon against tabling a motion to remove McCarthy as speaker, with most Democrats present joining 11 hard-line Republicans to force a final vote on the issue. The result means that unless he resigns, or cuts a last-minute deal, McCarthy could soon become the first speaker in U.S. history to be ousted from his post in the middle of his term.

The revolt against McCarthy is led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and a small group of conservative Republicans who have complained that the speaker works with Democrats too often.

If McCarthy is removed, the House, which has been in disarray for much of the year, could descend further into chaos, with a small group of GOP hard-liners demanding greater concessions for electing a new Republican speaker. Democrats could also attempt to extract concessions in exchange for supporting a consensus speaker, though such a deal is unprecedented in modern congressional history.

The speaker’s defeat on this test vote will have ramifications beyond his personal political career. Gaetz cited McCarthy’s Saturday decision to work with Democrats to keep the government open as one of the reasons for his coup, and McCarthy’s defeat sends a clear signal to whoever replaces him that the far right of the Republican party will not tolerate compromise. California will be affected, too: Without the Bakersfield Republican in the speaker’s chair, the state, which lost its senior senator just last week, could see its power in Congress diminished even further.

Gaetz, after months of threats, filed a motion to oust McCarthy late Monday night, taking advantage of chamber rules that allow any lawmaker to force a quick vote to boot the speaker. The final vote to determine McCarthy’s fate could happen as early as Tuesday.

If the final vote mirrors the recent result, McCarthy is cooked. And he doesn’t have many options left. His razor-thin House majority means that unless Democrats back him, just a handful of Republicans can force him out. Ahead of the vote, McCarthy said he would not make a deal with Democrats to save his job.

Democrats made clear before the vote that they’re not interested in bailing out McCarthy.“We are ready to find bipartisan common ground,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, late Tuesday morning. “Our extreme colleagues have shown no willingness to do the same. They must find a way to end the House Republican Civil War.”

The 11 Republicans who voted against McCarthy were Gaetz, Cory Mills of Florida, Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Bob Good of Virginia, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Matthew M. Rosendale of Montana, Ken Buck of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Warren Davidson of Ohio.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not vote because she was in San Francisco preparing for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s funeral, her spokesperson told The Times.

If McCarthy is ousted, it would be the first time in U.S. history that this mechanism has been used to successfully oust a sitting House speaker. Gaetz has yet to suggest a name to replace McCarthy, and although McCarthy has likely already chosen an acting speaker to serve in his place temporarily if he is removed, that person’s identity has not yet been revealed.

McCarthy has been pressured by conservatives in his party who are peeved at his willingness to break bread with Democrats. On Saturday, the speaker relied on Democratic votes to avert a government shutdown; earlier this year, he worked with Democrats to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling so the United States could pay its bills.

Gaetz has sought to label those actions as a betrayal of the GOP and proof that McCarthy is not fit to lead the party. Gaetz also alleged McCarthy made a “secret deal” to help Biden deliver funding to help Ukraine in its war against Russia. (McCarthy said this is untrue.)

The showdown is cementing McCarthy as one of the weakest speakers in recent memory.

McCarthy’s leadership has repeatedly been questioned by far-right members of his caucus, who harness the GOP’s slim majority and withhold their votes to force the speaker to bend to their will. In exchange for their votes in January, McCarthy restored rules that made it easy for any member of the House to move to overthrow him — the same rules that are causing him so much trouble now.

McCarthy’s possible ejection from the speakership would be the latest blow to the power and reach of California’s congressional delegation, following former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s exit from House leadership and Feinstein’s recent death. If McCarthy is defeated, Democratic Reps. Pete Aguilar of Redlands and Ted Lieu of Torrance will be the only Californians left in leadership in either chamber of Congress.

But McCarthy’s politics are so far removed from the average California voter that Democrats aren’t worried.

“He hasn’t really fought for California to begin with. And in fact, in many cases in the past, he’s done things that are very inimical to the interests of California,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whom McCarthy kicked off the House Intelligence Committee earlier this year, told The Times. “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.”