WASHINGTON —House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the job Tuesday in an extraordinary showdown, a first in U.S. history that was forced by a contingent of hard-right conservatives and threw the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.
All three Kansas GOP members of the House of Representatives Tracey Mann, Ron Estes and Jake LaTurner voted against the motion to vacate the office of the Speaker of the House. Kansas Third District Representative Sharice Davids, a democrat, voted for the motion.
Fourth District Representatives Estes said in a statement from his office, "The overwhelming majority of House conservatives are focused on addressing our nation's most pressing problems – continually increasing inflation that hurts Kansas families and businesses, our more than $33,000,000,000,000 in debt and our porous southern border that in the last year has let in enough fentanyl to kill every American 20 times over."
"Dragging out internal personality disputes doesn't help conservatives govern or achieve policy wins, and we should instead focus on championing our conservative legislative agenda and exposing the harms of Bidenflation and the Biden family culture of corruption."
Removing the speaker launches the House Republicans into chaos heading into a busy fall when Congress will need to fund the government again or risk a mid-November shutdown.
Typically, top leaders would be next in line for the job, but Majority Leader Steve Scalise is battling cancer and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, like any potential candidate, may have trouble securing the vote. Another leading Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, is also a Trump ally.
One of McHenry's first acts in the temporary position was to oust Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi from her honorary office at the Capitol while she was away in California to pay tribute to Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“No matter who is going to be the speaker, the challenges still remain," Scalise said. “But I think the opportunity is there to continue moving forward.”
Asked if he was physically up to the job, Scalise said, “I feel great.”
It took McCarthy himself 15 rounds in January over multiple days of voting before he secured the support from his colleagues to gain the gavel.
Trump, the former president who is the Republican front-runner in the 2024 race to challenge Biden, complained about the chaos. “Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves," he asked on social media.
Asked about McCarthy's ouster as he exited court in New York, where he is on trial for business fraud, Trump did not respond.
One key McCarthy ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is also close with Trump, took to social media urging support for “our speaker.”
Republicans left the chamber in a daze, totally uncertain about next steps. “I honestly don’t know,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. “This is a total disaster.”
Many had lined up to hug McCarthy, some to shake his hand.
Democrats, who have bristled at McCarthy's leadership — cajoling them one minute, walking away from deals the next — said they were just holding back, waiting for Republicans to figure out how to run the House.
Rep, Don Bacon, R-Neb., the leader of a centrist group, said the only option was to leave the eight hardliners behind and try to work across the aisle. “We’re going to stay with Kevin,” he said. “He told us earlier he’ll never quit.”
But McCarthy made it clear Tuesday night that he would not try to win back the job.