On October 3, 2023, the United States House of Representatives voted to remove its speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, through a motion to vacate filed by Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a fellow member of the Republican Party. McCarthy's removal marked the first time in American history that a speaker of the House was removed through a motion to vacate. The vacancy started a process to elect a speaker that began following an eight-day recess.

In the 118th Congress, the 2022 elections formed a narrow majority for Republicans in the House of Representatives. The Freedom Caucus, the most conservative congressional caucus of Republican representatives, secured a minority of these seats. During the speakership election for the 118th Congress, McCarthy faced significant opposition within the Republican Conference from the Freedom Caucus, who saw him as untrustworthy and insufficiently conservative. After fifteen rounds of voting, McCarthy was elected speaker, conceding to his opponents by allowing any representative to file a motion to vacate. The potential of a government shutdown began to take hold in July 2023, with the Freedom Caucus—in demonstrations of austerity and defiance toward McCarthy—opposing spending bills to fund the government.

By September, the federal government appeared poised to shut down. The Freedom Caucus furthered its warnings to McCarthy: they warned him against brokering a deal with Democrats to pass temporary appropriations legislation, asking him to pass an all-year budget with deep spending cuts instead. McCarthy nevertheless led the House of Representatives in passing a continuing resolution on September 30; its passage was reliant on bipartisan support, but more Democrats than Republicans voted in favor. On October 2, Gaetz, a member of the Freedom Caucus, filed a motion to vacate.

Following an unsuccessful motion to table by Representative Tom Cole, Republican Chair of the Rules Committee, Republican representatives debated McCarthy's speakership on the House floor. When the time for debate expired, the House voted to remove McCarthy, with insurgent Republicans and all Democrats present voting against him. The speaker's chair was vacated and Patrick McHenry of North Carolina—a McCarthy ally—was made speaker pro tempore and the House went without a proper speaker until the October 25 election of Mike Johnson of Louisiana. McCarthy subsequently announced his resignation from Congress effective at the end of 2023.

Process and replacement The speaker of the House can be removed using a motion to vacate. As part of negotiations for McCarthy's speakership, rules were adopted that allowed any single representative to initiate a motion to vacate (without needing any co-sponsors). The motion takes the form of a simple resolution. The provision had only been used twice in the House of Representatives. In 1910, an unsuccessful motion was filed against Joseph G. Cannon. In 2015, Representative Mark Meadows proposed a motion to vacate against then-speaker John Boehner, but a vote was not officially called before Boehner resigned. A representative must file the resolution and request a vote; as a privileged resolution, the vote must occur within two legislative days. A vote may be blocked if the resolution is tabled or sent to a committee. If passed, an internal list penned by McCarthy would appoint a speaker pro tempore until a new speaker was named. An election would then begin.

Background

McCarthy's speakership

The 2022 midterm elections resulted in a narrow, 2-seat Senate majority for the Democratic Party and a narrow, 4-seat House of Representatives majority for the Republican Party. In the 118th Congress, the Freedom Caucus, a right wing congressional caucus, secured 45 House of Representatives seats. McCarthy, leader of the House Republican Conference, was elected speaker of the House after several days of voting as opposition—primarily led by members of the Freedom Caucus—mounted against him. McCarthy conceded to his opponents to negotiate their support for his speakership. In May 2023, McCarthy negotiated with President Joe Biden on a deal to resolve a debt-ceiling crisis and an imminent debt default. In response, Republicans, led by Gaetz, balked and blocked consideration of a bill protecting gas stoves against federal regulations. The mutiny left McCarthy with a political quagmire to either acquiesce to the insurgents, passing legislation that would face resistance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, or to negotiate with House Democrats, contending with a potential ousting.

Passage of a continuing resolution on the federal budget By September, the federal government appeared poised to shut down after representatives could not vote on a series of appropriations bills. The Freedom Caucus threatened to depose McCarthy if he passed legislation which did not include the budget reforms they wanted, relying on Democrats to pass a bipartisan funding resolution instead. On September 29, Politico reported that Gaetz had reached out to Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, among other Democrats, about removing McCarthy. The following day, hours before a shutdown was expected to occur, the House of Representatives passed , a continuing resolution to fund the government through November 17, which extended current funding to Federal Departments without enacting any meaningful reform; the resolution was passed in the Senate and signed by President Biden, averting a shutdown. McCarthy had relied on Democratic votes to pass the continuing resolution due to opposition from some House Republicans. The resolution passed the House 335–91, with all but one of the votes cast against it coming from Republicans. Gaetz, who had led intra-party opposition to McCarthy, announced in an interview with CNN that he would move to remove McCarthy: he criticized McCarthy for working with Democrats to pass a temporary spending bill without spending cuts, and for introducing the bill itself at the very last moment (leaving representatives with barely enough time to read it before voting on it). Gaetz and other hardline conservatives had previously voted against another continuing resolution containing spending reductions, arguing that the cuts did not go far enough. Their votes, combined with those of Democrats who opposed spending cuts altogether, had led to the proposal failing by a vote of 198 to 232.

+ style="background-color: #f2f2f2; margin-bottom: -1px; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" Vote to pass Party Yes No Not voting Republican 126 90 5 Democratic 209 1 2 Percentage Total votes 335 91 7

Motion to vacate

On October 2, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days. Politicos Ryan Lizza speculated that if McCarthy had retained his position, Gaetz might have simply proposed additional motions to vacate, as there is no limit on the number of times a member can do so.

House Democratic Caucus consensus Many Democrats would cite an inability to trust McCarthy as motivating House Democrats to vote as a unified bloc in support of the motion to vacate. There was also little on McCarthy's agenda that appealed to Democrats on a legislative level. Despite relying on Democratic votes to pass the continuing resolution, after its passage, McCarthy had attacked Democrats in an interview aired on Face the Nation, accusing them of having attempted to obstruct its passage. These comments, amongst others, were seen as one of several instances in which he had established ill will and distrust among House Democrats during his speakership. Ahead of the removal vote, McCarthy publicly ruled out the possibility of a deal to receive votes for his retention from Democrats in exchange for concessions.

On October 3, prior to the vote, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked Democrats to vote to remove McCarthy. The conclusion was that the pending motion to vacate highlighted the dysfunction in the Republican Party, which Democrats argued made Republicans unsuitable to govern. Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said, "[Republicans] need to work this out.... This is not for us to get involved."

Voting and debate The motion to vacate was considered by the House on October 3. Tom Cole, chairman of the Republican-led House Rules Committee, unsuccessfully attempted to remove the matter from consideration by introducing a motion to table, which was however rejected by a vote of 218—208. Following one hour of debate evenly divided between Gaetz and Cole, the motion passed by a vote of 216–210; this was the first time in congressional history the House voted to remove its incumbent speaker.

Results Vote to table

+ style="background-color: #f2f2f2; margin-bottom: -1px; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" Vote to table Party Yes No Not voting Republican 208 11 2 Democratic 207 5 Percentage 48.8% 51.1% Total votes 208 218 7

The vote to table the motion was primarily split along party lines; all Democrats present voted against tabling the motion and a majority of Republicans voted to table the motion. Republicans Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Warren Davidson, Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, Cory Mills, Matt Rosendale, and Victoria Spartz voted no.

Vote to vacate + style="background-color: #f2f2f2; margin-bottom: -1px; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 0.1em 0.2em;" Vote to vacate Party Yes No Not voting Republican 8 210 3 Democratic 208 4 Percentage 50.7% 49.3% Total votes 216 210 7

The vote to vacate was mostly split along party lines; all Democrats present voted yes and a majority of Republicans voted no. Republican representatives Biggs, Buck, Burchett, Crane, Gaetz, Good, Mace and Rosendale voted yes.

In the January speaker election, Biggs, Crane, Gaetz, Good and Rosendale had been five of six Republicans who had never voted for McCarthy (though they had all voted "present" on the last ballot, allowing McCarthy to be elected), while Buck, Burchett and Mace had voted for McCarthy on every ballot they had taken part in.

Burchett said his yes vote was "sealed" after McCarthy allegedly made a "condescending" remark about his religious beliefs during a phone call. McCarthy said that he did not intend to upset Burchett. Mace, who is a member of moderate caucuses such as the Republican Governance Group and Problem Solvers Caucus, defended her vote by citing unfulfilled promises McCarthy made regarding the future strategy of the Republican Conference towards gun violence and abortion. Buck cited similar broken promises regarding the budget. Jeffries and congressional Democrats said their yes votes were ultimately sealed by a video of "an appearance Mr. McCarthy made on television on Sunday—the morning after Democrats helped him push through legislation to avert a government shutdown — in which he blamed them for trying to prompt a shutdown."

Votes cast by members

All House members of the 118th Congress that voted against party lines or were absent for one or both votes, are noted here.

+MemberPartyDistrictVote to tableVote to vacate Against Vacate Against Vacate Against Vacate absent absent Against Vacate Against Against Against Vacate Against Vacate Table absent absent Against Vacate Against Against absent absent Against Vacate Against Against absent absent Vacate

Aftermath North Carolina Representative McHenry, a described close ally of McCarthy, was appointed as his temporary replacement as speaker pro tempore of the House. The House's legislative activities were temporarily halted as speaker pro tempore McHenry began an eight-day recess.