Local Representatives React to McCarthy’s Removal
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Yesterday was a historic day in the House of Representatives.
The vast majority of Republicans voted to keep Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker of the House but he was voted out 216-210.
All six Congressional Representatives in the News 12 viewing area voted to keep McCarthy as the Speaker.
Kevin McCarthy (MGN)
The nearest representative who voted to remove McCarthy was Tim Burchett, the Congressional representative from the Knoxville area.
Representative Burchett said, “Kevin McCarthy is my friend, and I hate to lose him as a friend. But I had a choice between that and my conscience, and what my conscience tells me to do.”
Representative Burchett was one of 8 Republicans to vote against McCarthy along with every Democrat.
Despite being a part of the House Freedom Caucus, Representative Majorie Taylor Greene of Northwest Georgia supported McCarthy and expressed concern over the future before the vote Tuesday.
Representative Greene said, “There was an admission by Matt Gaetz, who’s my friend, that there is no plan. There’s no one that has stepped forward to run.”
he has since announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she supports former President Donald Trump for Speaker of the House, which would be unprecedented.
The U.S. Constitution does not specifically prevent a non-representative from being the Speaker.
Representative Chuck Fleischmann of District 3 in Tennessee says he has a fellow colleague in mind.
Representative Fleischmann said, “At this point in time I plan to support Steve Scalise who is my dear friend, who is the current Republican majority leader. You may recall that he and I were on the ball field when he was shot.”
He says that despite the current turmoil inside the Republican Party, he’s not concerned about its future prospects.
He said, “Sometimes it’s difficult to come together as a family. We saw that yesterday. Hopefully when we get a new speaker, we’ll be able to move forward, we’ve got to move forward swiftly.”
He also added, “This hiccup, and it was a hiccup, it was not a good event yesterday, showed that we do have some differences. But I will be the optimist, our party, my party, the Republican Party is a growing party. It’s growing with minorities, it’s going with women, it’s growing with younger people, it’s growing everywhere.”
House Republicans plan to meet next Tuesday to discuss who will be the next Speaker.
In addition to Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio has also announced his intentions to run for the House Speakership as well.
