McCarthy booted from speakership

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been ousted from the speakership, with every present House Democrat – including all nine Democrats from New Jersey – joining a few renegade Republicans in supporting a procedural maneuver known as a “motion to vacate.”

The motion was brought by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a hard-right congressman who has frequently sparred with McCarthy; Gaetz filed the motion to vacate yesterday, shortly after McCarthy pushed through a bipartisan funding bill to avert a government shutdown.

With Gaetz finding a handful of allies among fellow conservative Republicans, McCarthy’s fate rested among House Democrats, who control 212 House seats and could have voted against the motion (or simply voted “present”) to save McCarthy. They chose not to.

“From day one and after 15 rounds of votes for Speaker, Republicans have not only shown they are incapable of governing but Speaker McCarthy has shown his word cannot be trusted,” Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) said in a statement. “Nor has he demonstrated any willingness to work across the aisle on solutions that will help Americans whether they are from red or blue districts. For those reasons and so many more, I voted in favor of the motion to vacate.”

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) explained his “yes” vote more evocatively: “If the Republican Conference is a circus, why would I go into the tent and step in elephant dung?”

New Jersey’s three Republican representatives, meanwhile, all stuck by McCarthy, just as they did during all 15 rounds of January’s leadership vote. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) said before the vote that he’s been impressed with McCarthy’s speakership thus far, and that removing him would be folly.

“I think the Speaker, under incredible odds against him, has had tremendous wins,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) said. “I have tremendous respect for him… I think this is a blunder on the part of those who just want to oust him.”

But Smith’s opinion was not shared by a pivotal eight House Republicans who, alongside Democrats, put the final tally at 216 votes to remove McCarthy, 210 votes to retain him.

The question now: what next? Immediately after the vote, the House went into recess, so that each caucus can sort out what to do; while North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry became Speaker pro tempore upon McCarthy’s removal, there’s no clear long-term replacement for McCarthy waiting in the wings, so there’s likely more chaos to come.