On Oct. 3, 2023, the House of Representatives voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The vote—initiated by a Republican and occurring under a Republican majority—marked the embarrassing fall of a figure who was once touted as one of the party’s promising “Young Guns.”
McCarthy’s shot at leading the House came after a disappointing 2022 election cycle for the GOP, despite securing a narrow majority. Before the election, many expected a “red wave” of votes for Republicans, but after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, the wave became a trickle.
It took 15 rounds of votes in the House for McCarthy to secure the votes necessary for him to become speaker. In each round, Democrats held firm in support of their chosen leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
The process to remove McCarthy was initiated by Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who is best known for his alleged involvement in sex parties and affiliation with a onetime associate convicted of sex trafficking. Gaetz’s motion to vacate the speakership succeeded with a vote of 216-210.
Gaetz was upset that under McCarthy, the House had passed a resolution funding the federal government that was ultimately signed by President Joe Biden. The bill had bipartisan support, with a majority of Republicans and Democrats backing it, but it was opposed by the party’s more conservative factions.
Then came chaos.
After McCarthy’s ouster, Republicans could not decide who should lead them. Multiple names were floated as Republicans jockeyed for the position. Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, joined the race. But his hopes were quickly dashed after his past attendance at a white supremacist conference was brought back into the spotlight.
Rep. Jim Jordan, an ardent Donald Trump defender and promoter of conspiracy theories, threw his hat into the ring—even increasing his donations to GOP candidates and election groups—but then pulled out after support failed to materialize. Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip, also took up a bid but quit after Trump came out against him, saying that Emmer “wasn’t MAGA.”
Eventually, the party settled on Rep. Mike Johnson, who has held the position since last October. But under Johnson, the GOP has still been unable to get its act together.
The month after he took over, Republicans needed Democratic help to avert a government shutdown. In January, Republicans leaned on Democrats again for their support of a tax bill. And in September, Republicans could not avert a government shutdown on their own after most of their caucus opposed a short-term government funding bill. Once again, Democrats rescued the majority.
Meanwhile, the narrow Republican majority has continued to shrink. The party has seen over 20 congressional lawmakers announce their retirements ahead of this year’s elections, and even more embarrassingly, the House voted to oust Republican George Santos following his indictment—a seat that was later won by a Democrat.
Since his ouster and the third-shortest speakership in U.S. history, McCarthy has kept his hand in politics, appearing on cable news to attack Vice President Kamala Harris and donating millions to House candidates.
But voters appear poised to turn the page on the Republican majority. When asked which party they would like to see lead Congress following this year’s elections, a plurality chose the Democrats, according to 538’s average of generic-ballot polling, which shows Democrats leading Republicans by over 2 percentage points.
Donate now to take the House back from Republicans!
