The first US parliamentary speaker to be dismissed: Who is Kevin McCarthy?

Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives. McCarthy, a member of the Republican Party, has been serving as a California representative since 2007.

McCarthy was born in Bakersfield. While working as a firefighter, he attended and graduated from California State University at Bakersfield. McCarty served two terms in the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2006. He was elected to Congress in 2006. McCarthy served as deputy chairman of the Republican Party's parliamentary minority caucus from 2009 to 2011. When Republicans gained control of the House in 2011, McCarty was the deputy majority caucus chairman from 2011 to August 2014 and was elected majority leader to replace Eric Cantor, who was defeated in the primaries.

Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January to October 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he represents California's 20th congressional district, which encompasses most of the San Joaquin Valley. McCarthy served as the leader of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2023 and served as House Minority Leader from 2019 until his election as speaker in 2023.

Following the Republican Party's defeat in the 2018 midterm elections, McCarthy was elected House minority leader to succeed House Speaker Paul Ryan, becoming the first California Republican to hold that position. After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, McCarthy supported Donald Trump's claims of voter fraud and initially joined efforts to overturn the results, but later reversed his previous comments on the issue and blamed Trump for the riot. By 2022, McCarthy publicly reconciled with Trump.

Why and how was he dismissed?

It almost turned into a feud in the US House of Representatives when Speaker Kevin McCarthy asked Democrats to help them approve the budget bill to prevent a government shutdown. Republican Gaetz said he would do whatever he could to remove McCarthy from office.

As hardline Republicans left Congress on Saturday, they complained that McCarthy had sold them out by working with Democrats. They questioned whether he deserved to remain in office.

Speaking on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Gaetz promised to introduce a measure called an eviction motion within the next few days. "I think we should move forward with new leadership that can be trusted," Gaetz said. This move led to a vote on whether the speaker of the parliament should remain in his post.

But on Sunday, McCarthy dismissed the threat, predicting that Gaetz's effort to remove him from office would fail. He said Gaetz was acting out of a petty grudge rather than a fundamental disagreement.

"Nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy," said Gaetz, suggesting that the only way McCarthy can remain Speaker of the House until the end of the week is for "Democrats to save him." Although most House Republicans support McCarthy remaining as Speaker, Gaetz's plans pose an existential threat to McCarthy's tenure due to the slim majority the GOP has in the chamber.

US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy was dismissed from office upon the motion of the far-right group within the Republican Party, of which he is a member.

Whether or not the proposal was accepted depended on the support of Democrats as well as far-right members of McCarthy's own party.

In the vote, 208 Democratic members as well as 8 Republicans voted to dismiss McCarthy. Thus, the result was that McCarthy was removed from office by a vote of 216 to 210.

He was elected after 15 votes

Kevin McCarthy was sworn in as president following the 15th vote for the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the beginning of this year.

The last time such a situation was seen in the USA was before the Civil War.

In the Republican Party, which gained the majority in the House of Representatives by four seats in the midterm elections held in November, right-wing members did not back down from their objections to McCarthy's presidency.

Republican Florida Representative Gaetz, who is in this group, had opposed McCarthy becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives from the beginning.

Former US President Donald Trump criticized the Republicans' conflict among themselves in a statement he made on his social media platform TruthSocial before the vote.

Trump asked, "Why are Republicans always fighting among themselves? Why aren't they fighting the radical left Democrats who are destroying our country?" he said.