Kevin McCarthy officially ousted as Speaker of the House – and now the real fun begins
Kevin McCarthy is no longer Speaker of the House, after eight House Republicans joined all House Republicans in voting to oust him. As of now there is no Speaker of the House. Basic day to day operations will be carried out by an interim Speaker, but this immediately puts a number of things in motion.
House Republicans will now try to rally around a new candidate for Speaker – perhaps Steve Scalise – in the hope of making this embarrassing situation go away quickly. But it’s not clear that they can find 218 votes for Scalise or any other potential candidate. If the same House Republicans who just ousted McCarthy are intent on letting the Speakership remain vacant for a bit in order to make their twisted point, then there’s nothing House Republicans can do about it – well, almost nothing.
If the likes of Matt Gaetz do insist upon keeping the Speakership vacant for long enough, there’s a point where the fourteen House Republicans running in toss up districts would become worried about the backlash costing them their own seats in 2024, and they’d approach the Democrats about a compromise Speaker. Democrats would firmly want Hakeem Jeffries. But it’s not clear whether the House Republicans in toss-up districts would be willing to give them Jeffries, or would insist upon more of a lower profile nonpartisan figure.
In any case, it’s still pretty much Matt Gaetz’s move. He and his band of dissidents will have to decide whether to accept or reject the first name that the rest of the House Republicans decide to put forward for Speaker. Given that Gaetz was warned that he’d be expelled for going after McCarthy, and did it anyway, it’s fair to say that Gaetz is in full self destruct mode. So it’s difficult to predict his next move.
But we do know that people like Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Donald Trump will not be the next Speaker. There’s no way any of those names would come even close to getting 218 votes. Regardless of any machinations or ambitions that anyone may have, this still comes down to a matter of math. Anyone who wants to be Speaker would need to get 218 votes.
If you’re siding with the Democrats, you might as well just enjoy the show. House Republicans – all of whom are repulsive at this point – are now taking each other down. McCarthy has lost his Speakership. Gaetz might lose his seat next. And the odds of the Democrats winning the House majority in 2024 keep going up.
