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Kevin McCarthy was voted out of his position as Speaker of the House on Oct. 3 in a decision of 216-210. His removal from office has been completely unprecedented in its nature, being voted out by members of his own party with eight of the 216 that voted for him being Republicans.
The motion to remove him was led by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz in order to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a looming government shutdown. After being elected in fifteen rounds of voting across four days, McCarthy made history as the most narrowly elected Speaker since 1923. He has now made history again as the first Speaker of the House to be removed from office in United States history.
“Even though he was a Republican, none of the House Republicans really like him,” sophomore Laura Santana said. “He was just trying to negotiate with the Democrats more than anything after Nancy Pelosi left.”
Throughout the last month, the House has been stuck in paralysis, unable to pass any bills, partially due to infighting within the Republican Party. This could mean that despite their majority advantage over the Democratic Party, the next Speaker of the House could be a Democrat due to the Republicans’ struggle with agreeing on a singular candidate.
“[The House Republicans] need to come to the realization that fighting among themselves is only damaging them,” sophomore Avery Blenis said. “McCarthy was no one’s favorite but it’s poor political proceedings on their part to vote out a Speaker from their own party.”
Despite working directly in Congress, the Speaker of the House does not have to be a congressional representative, which has led to a movement of people rallying to elect former president Donald Trump as the Speaker before the 2024 presidential election.
“The fact that McCarty was voted out was incredibly surprising considering the Democrats lost seats in the last election,” senior Amoriyah Robinson said. “But, people already rallying behind Trump is both concerning and strange. Marjorie Taylor Greene has already spoken in his favor but he may not be completely sold on wanting to be Speaker of the House, regardless, with the presidential elections coming up.”
