House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is facing an ouster vote on Tuesday that could remove him from the speakership less than a year into the California Republican’s tenuous run, though House Republicans remain divided on the future of the chamber and far-right GOP lawmakers have thus far not reached a consensus on a potential successor, though several names have been floated.
Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (right) is one of a handful of Republicans rumored to be a potential ... [+]
Far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)—one of McCarthy’s biggest GOP opponents who filed the motion to vacate—floated a potential run by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) in an interview with Newsmax late last month, lauding the 62-year-old House majority whip as “someone who has a lot of credibility,” though Emmer himself threw his support behind McCarthy, calling him “tested and proven” in a post on X on Monday, saying he is “proud to support the Speaker as we continue championing conservative priorities that will put our country on a better path.”
When asked who would be able to receive enough votes to replace McCarthy, Gaetz also mentioned House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 2 Republican in the chamber who House Republicans had been rumored to favor in January if McCarthy failed to win the speakership—though Scalise is undergoing cancer treatment following a multiple myeloma diagnosis in August and said this week he is “committed to continuing to work with [McCarthy]
.”Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, urged McCarthy’s ouster in an X post Monday night, appearing to indicate a potential run to be his successor, claiming he ran against McCarthy late last year “because I feared that Kevin McCarthy would not rein in federal spending and take on Democrats,” adding that “these fears are now reality.”
Despite speculation that a group of high-ranking House Republicans, including House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) could throw their hats in the ring, Jordan praised McCarthy, saying he “doesn’t want to be speaker,” and wants McCarthy to keep his post, while Cole said on the House floor that a vacancy vote would “plunge [the House] into chaos.”
If McCarthy will remain speaker. House Democrats joined far-right Republicans on Tuesday in opposition to McCarthy, after McCarthy said he would bring the motion to vacate to the floor. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to colleagues on Tuesday that the party will not come together in support of McCarthy, arguing that the chamber “has plunged into unprecedented dysfunction” and that “extremism continues to run rampant in the House of Representatives.” McCarthy also refused to agree to a deal with Democrats in exchange for votes to spare him, telling CNBC that Democrats “haven’t asked for anything” and that he is “not going to provide anything.” A simple majority of the GOP-controlled chamber is needed to oust the speaker.
McCarthy was voted into the speakership in a historic 15 rounds of voting in January, after far-right House members refused to vote in favor of the California Republican, demanding sweeping budget cuts after the GOP regained control of the chamber. In order to win over enough far-right lawmakers, led by the House Freedom Caucus, McCarthy agreed to a slate of concessions, including by capping discretionary spending to the level it had been before President Joe Biden took office, as well as by vowing to balance the federal budget in 10 years and by lowering the number of GOP conference members necessary to begin a motion to vacate from five to one. McCarthy faced criticism over the past nine months from lawmakers on the far-right, which came to a head last week as House Freedom Caucus members rejected a string of failed stopgap measures to keep the federal government funded, arguing against appropriations for Ukraine—the House and Senate ultimately approved a resolution at the eleventh hour on Saturday, though that bill left out military aid for Ukraine.
House Will Vote On Ousting McCarthy As Speaker This Afternoon—As Dems Unite Against Him (Forbes)
Democratic House Leader Says Party Won’t Rescue McCarthy In Ouster Vote (Forbes)