Kevin McCarthy says he won’t seek reelection as US House Speaker after his defeat in a landmark vote

Republican Kevin McCarthy has said that he won’t seek re-election as Speaker of the US House of Representatives after being overthrown by a right-wing coup for the first time in the nation’s history.

“I won’t seek reelection as speaker. After a late-night discussion behind closed doors with party leaders, McCarthy told reporters, “I’ll have the (Republican) conference choose someone else.

“I don’t regret speaking out against the choice of grievance over governance. I’m in charge of it. My work requires it. I don’t regret the deal I made. You know it was personal… Our government is made to make compromises,” he said. Nothing to do with money was involved.

McCarthy, who took over as Speaker in January after a grueling 15-round vote in the house, said that the hardliners who deposed him “are not conservatives.”

Days after McCarthy depended on Democratic votes to pass a “clean” interim funding package to avoid a government shutdown, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted a resolution to remove McCarthy in an unprecedented action.

It was the first time in US history that a House speaker was removed from office in the midst of a term due to a no-confidence vote (216-210), roughly nine months after McCarthy secured the job in a thrilling 15-round floor battle.

With a boom of his gavel, Arkansas Republican Steve Womack announced, “The office of Speaker of the House is hereby declared vacant,” drawing loud gasps.

Less than a day after hardline Republican Representative Matt Gaetz launched a proposal to replace McCarthy using a procedure known as “a motion to vacate,” eight Republicans voted with Democrats to remove McCarthy from the speakership.

Gaetz and other ardent Republicans have been threatening to remove McCarthy as the chamber’s leader if he depends on Democrats to pass spending legislation for weeks.

In the midst of talks to avoid a partial government shutdown over the weekend, the Florida Republican accused the Speaker of striking a secret agreement with the White House to preserve money for Ukraine.

McCarthy has refuted the charge.

According to the senior Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, the Republican-controlled House “has been restructured to empower right-wing extremists, kowtow to their harsh demands, and impose a rigid partisan ideology”, in a statement released on Tuesday.

The House Democratic leadership will vote in favor of the pending Republican Motion to Vacate the Chair, according to Jeffries, who was referring to the “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan made famous by Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.

In a last-ditch attempt to prevent a government shutdown, McCarthy unveiled a temporary financing package on September 30. This bill includes $16 billion in funds for disaster assistance while maintaining existing funding levels for federal agencies until mid-November.

Conservative Republicans’ demands for significant expenditure cuts and border security were omitted from the package, while Democrats’ demands for further help for Ukraine were also not included.

Just a few minutes before the federal government’s financing for this fiscal year was about to expire, President Joe Biden signed the measure after it had been approved by both the Senate and the House on September 30.

In an effort to win over Republican conservatives, McCarthy has been pushing to move a financing plan with significant expenditure cuts and border security features.

Democrats and the White House applauded his decision to introduce the “clean” interim funding package, but some Republicans, particularly House party hardliners, were not pleased.

On September 30, McCarthy responded to a question from reporters by saying, “If someone wants to remove (me) because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try.” McCarthy had been criticized by conservative Republican lawmakers for trying to block the funding measure.

According to the BBC, Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who backed McCarthy, is now the Speaker pro tempore or temporary Speaker.

He gaveled the House into a weeklong break after the vote on Tuesday night.

It is uncertain if he will have all of the office’s authority or only administrative authority and the authority to oversee a fresh election.

Although a vote to elect a new Speaker is scheduled on October 11, the rules do not specify how long someone may serve in an interim capacity.

President Joe Biden is hopeful the House would swiftly elect a new Speaker, according to the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. She noted that the “challenges facing our nation won’t wait” for that to happen.

Paul Ryan and John Boehner, the past two Republican Speakers, both resigned from Congress after ongoing conflicts with their more conservative colleagues.

Only twice in the last century has the so-called motion to vacate been used to remove a Speaker—in 2015 and 2010—but never before had it been successful.