Speaker Kevin McCarthy Kicked out of the house of representatives  

By Bismah Arif, 2026

Published 10/18/2023

This month, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was removed from his position, leaving many relieved and worried Republicans in the wake of this historic event.  

This was a result of Representative Matt Gaetz’s resistance against the Californian Republican Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, by filing a “motion to vacate”. Many had claimed it was unlikely to be successful, but on October 3rd, 2023 he was victorious, and McCarthy was ousted from the speakership in a 216-210 vote. Numerous Republicans had been dissatisfied with the speaker’s decisions in the past few months. McCarthy had launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden when urgent government shutdowns occurred. In addition, he also blamed the Democrats for his interview on Face The Nation, which almost failed (although more Democrats voted to avoid the shutdown than Republicans). Despite this, McCarthy gained support to become speaker, and he created a rule that allowed any Republican to call a recall vote if they were dissatisfied with him. Ironically, this rule kicked McCarthy out of office and backfired on him. 

Yet, Matt Gaetz needed more support than the Republicans to remove McCarthy. “The one thing I agree with my Democrat colleagues on is that for the last eight months, this House has been poorly led, and we own that, and we have to do something about it,” Gaetz stated. “And you know what? My Democrat colleagues will also have an opportunity to do something about that. And we will see if they bail out our failed speaker.”

Gaetz's efforts threw the Republican leadership seat open, and the House erupted in chaos. On the other hand, it’s also the first recall vote in 113 years making this shocking yet pleasing news to most of the public.

Nonetheless, now that McCarthy has been pushed out of the way, the question remains: Who will take his seat as Speaker of the Republicans? For most, the obvious choice is House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is more conservative than the former speaker. However, his ongoing blood cancer treatment may prevent him from filling the seat immediately. Some favor the idea of a “caretaker speaker” to be a temporary substitute and keep the House in order until Scalise can come in. This idea hasn’t been officially introduced yet, because so many still disagree. This historic event reveals how Republicans will have difficulty agreeing on a suitable candidate later.