Rep. Matt Gaetz’s motion against McCarthy was supported by GOP Reps. Andy Biggs, Bob Good, Elijah Crane, Tim Burchett, Ken Buck, Nancy Mace and Matt Rosendale.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted as speaker of the House of Representatives after a small group of Republicans rebelled against their leader. It was the first time in history that the chamber had voted out a speaker.
McCarthy’s hold on the job fell short by just six votes. With a tally of 216-210, McCarthy’s fate was sealed by the decisions of eight Republicans, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) who filed the motion against the speaker after months of threats — and the 208 Democrats who joined in favor. Three Republicans and four Democrats did not vote.
These are the eight Republicans who voted against McCarthy. As they explained their votes to support a motion to vacate, their reasons varied — but several criticized McCarthy’s decision to pass a stopgap measure with Democratic support to fund the government. The roughly 45-day continuing resolution averted a government shutdown at the last minute and was hailed by McCarthy.Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
Biggs, a long-standing conservative opponent of McCarthy’s, previously mounted failed challenges to his leadership. On Tuesday, Biggs said McCarthy had failed as an effective leader. “He has gone against many of the promises he made in January and can no longer be trusted at the helm,” Biggs said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Biggs vocally opposed the stopgap bill and instead demanded that the House move forward on all 12 GOP appropriations bills to fund the government in fiscal 2024.
“It allows you to reduce spending, get rid of wasteful duplicative programs. It allows you to set an agenda to restore fiscal sanity. We chose to not do it again,” Biggs told the floor. “This body is entrenched in a suboptimal path and refuses to leave it.”Rep. Ken Buck (Colo.)
Buck is a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, who said he voted to oust McCarthy for reasons of fiscal responsibility. “We cannot continue to fund the government by continuing resolutions and omnibus spending bills,” he said on X.
In an interview with Newsmax, he also criticized McCarthy’s personal leadership style, accusing him of rewarding self-interest among lawmakers. “He makes sure that he hands out chairmanships and subcommittee chairmanships and special favors to a large group of people — and that’s the way the system works here,” Buck said Tuesday evening.
Separately, Buck has become an unlikely critic of the GOP’s impeachment efforts. After McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden last month, Buck wrote in an op-ed for The that it was effectively based on a myth.
