Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was named Speaker Pro Tempore after Kevin McCarthy became the first Speaker of the House to be removed from his role during a legislative term in US history.
The unprecedented request to remove him from the nation’s third-highest office followed Tuesday’s impeachment vote, in which the House of Representatives voted 216-210 to strip McCarthy of his leadership role.
After the impeachment vote, a House clerk announced that McHenry was the new interim speaker, Politico reported ABC News. McCarthy, 58, tapped McHenry, 47, for the role in January, Politico reports. The North Carolina Republican’s role was not announced at the time.
McCarthy later told Republicans he would not run for president again, he reports The New York Times.
McHenry was elected to Congress in 2004 at the age of 29 and served 10 terms. A native of Gastonia, North Carolina, he currently resides in Denver, North Carolina and represents the state’s 10th District, which includes Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln and Rutherford counties.
Known to be a longtime McCarthy supporter, McHenry wrote on X before the California Republican was ousted, “@SpeakerMcCarthy has shown consistent, conservative leadership. We need his firm hand to fulfill our commitment to America.”
Ahead of the historic impeachment, far-right Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a lengthy “vacation motion” the night before.
The Florida Republican’s proposal required only a simple majority to pass, which was achieved with help from House Democrats. Republican officials tried to delay the impeachment vote until a later date to give them more time to lobby for the defectors, but the motion for consideration failed Tuesday afternoon.
The decision came after McCarthy announced he would not cut a deal with Democrats to win their support, which reportedly prompted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to manage the caucus of the Democrats vote for the new leadership.
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“This is a solemn moment for the country and for the House of Representatives,” Jeffries said in a statement after the speaker’s seat was vacated. “The Constitution gave us a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. House Democrats will continue to put people above politics and work together in a bipartisan way to make life better for ordinary Americans. We hope traditional Republicans will move away from MAGA extremism and join us in partnership for the good of the country.”
The vote came amid an effort to remove McCarthy as president, dating back to before he was even elected in January. It took 15 rounds of contested voting for McCarthy to win the role. At the time, McCarthy made major concessions to far-right members, including passing a rule that would have allowed any Republican to initiate an impeachment vote if they were unhappy with it, which ultimately became the decision that led to his ouster.
Since January, House Republicans have been struggling to stay in line. Under McCarthy’s leadership, the right-wing Freedom Caucus routinely opposed the party’s agenda, including consistent opposition on budget issues.
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“The only thing I agree with my colleagues in the Democratic Party is that this House has been mismanaged for the last eight months and we recognize that and we have to do something about it,” Gaetz said on the House floor last week. “And you know what? And my Democratic colleagues will have the opportunity to do something about it. And we’ll see if it saves our broken speaker.”
In addition to the Freedom Caucus’ displeasure with the chairman, House Democrats voiced their own frustrations with McCarthy before the impeachment vote — including an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden during emergency government shutdown talks (and without significant evidence).
In addition, on Sunday, the now former speaker said he Face the nationthat Democrats are to blame for a potential government shutdown, even though more Democrats voted to prevent the shutdown than Republicans.
On first day of impeachment inquiry, Republican witness says ‘current evidence’ does not support impeachment
McCarthy’s ouster marks the first time in national history that the Speaker of the House of Representatives has been impeached and the first time in 113 years that the House of Representatives has formally sought the impeachment of its Speaker.
While McHenry serves in the interim, there is still no clear successor for McCarthy.
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Source: HIS Education