Lawmaker Kevin McCarthy becomes first ousted speaker in US history | US News

A Republican lawmaker became the first House Speaker in American history to be voted out of the gavel.

Hard-right conservatives in Rep Kevin McCarthy’s own party forced a vote that led to his historic ouster that left the chamber in chaos without a leader.

McCarthy’s rival Rep Matt Gaetz pushed a ‘motion to vacate’. Democrats joined with the handful of GOP hard-liners to strip McCarthy of leadership in a 216-210 vote late afternoon Tuesday.

The presiding officer announced that speaker role ‘is hereby declared vacant’ in the eerie House floor.

Initially there was no clear successor or next step in the unprecedented circumstance.

One of McCarthy’s top applies, Rep Patrick McHenry, quickly was named speaker pro tempore following House rules, until a successor is chosen.

The ouster comes after McCarthy over the weekend averted a government shutdown by abandoning GOP demands for steep spending cuts and instead working with Democrats on a deal.

‘Chaos is Speaker McCarthy,’ said Gaetz. ‘Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word.’

On Tuesday morning, McCarthy remained optimistic that he would survive the vote.

‘If you throw a speaker out that has 99% of their conference, that kept government open and paid the troops, I think we’re in a really bad place for how we’re going to run Congress,’ he said at the time.

McCarthy did not easily win the leadership role. It took 15 rounds of voting over multiple days for him to garner enough support to be elected. His tenure, which started on January 7, was the second-shortest in US speaker history.

‘I think there’s plenty of people who can step up and do the job,’ said Republican Rep Tim Burchett, who voted against McCarthy.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.