Chaos in the U.S. House: A Tumultuous Time
By Jack Blitzer ‘24
On October 5, 2023, the United States House of Representatives held a vote on whether to remove the Speaker of the House at the time, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. The vote was held due to the protestations of Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican. Gaetz was the leader of a faction of the Republican party that was deeply dissatisfied with the work of Mr. McCarthy in this position since he was voted into the office on January 7, 2023, after a protracted struggle which required fifteen ballots to push through the candidacy of Mr. McCarthy. Due to the slight Republican majority that the house is currently made up of, Mr. McCarthy’s position was consistently under threat throughout his nine months in charge. Seeing an opportunity to oust Mr. McCarthy in the face of a possible government shutdown, Mr. Gaetz secured a vote on the house floor that was essentially a referendum on Mr. McCarthy. By a vote of 216 to 210, Mr. McCarthy was removed as Speaker of the House, marking the first time in history that a House Speaker was ousted from office by a vote taken in the House.
In the wake of McCarthy’s ouster, Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina assumed the role of acting speaker until a new speaker could be determined. Owing to the narrow Republican majority as well as the deeply divided nature of the Republican House contingent, the possibility was real for a protracted struggle to ensue over the coming weeks. After a week of debate, the Republicans nominated Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana as their nominee for speaker. The length of time it took for Scalise to be selected as the Republican nominee further underscored the dysfunction of the Republican conference, which seemed deeply divided between the more moderate Scalise and the more right wing candidate Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Scalise’s announcement the next day that he would be withdrawing his candidacy due to the clear lack of support that he would have if his candidacy were put to a full vote further emphasized this dysfunction.
A day later, on October 13, the Republican conference selected Mr. Jordan as their next nominee for speaker, marking a sharp shift in ideology compared to that favored by Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Scalise. On October 17, the House held their first vote, where no candidate reached the required threshold of 217 votes to be elected. Mr. Jordan still lacked the full support of the Republican party, as 27 House Republicans elected to vote for Republicans other than Mr. Jordan. Another vote was held the following day where Mr. Jordan failed once again to draw the required support to secure the nomination. The same process took place two days later, with Mr. Jordan losing support in this third critical vote.
Following this third vote, the Republican conference pivoted candidates again, this time looking for a candidate less divisive than Mr. Jordan, satisfying the party’s more moderate wing, while still selecting a candidate from the far right wing of the party, satisfying those who voted to oust Mr. McCarthy. The conference initially nominated Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, but in the face of intense right-wing criticism, including from Former President Donald. J Trump, Emmer withdrew his candidacy. This opened the door for previously unknown Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana to receive the backing of the Republican conference.
Finally, the candidate with the requisite support had been identified. On October 25, 2023, Mr. Johnson was voted in as the new Speaker of the House by a vote of 220 to 209, ending nearly a month of protracted struggle and divisiveness in the government.
