Republicans are going to love this!
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, has lost his position as House speaker following a motion initiated by hardliner Representative Matt Gaetz, also from California. Surprisingly, a new contender for the role of House speaker has emerged: former President Donald Trump.
According to Fox, Representative Troy Nehls from Texas declared on Tuesday afternoon that his top priority when the House reconvenes will be to nominate Donald J. Trump as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Nehls praised Trump as the greatest president of his lifetime, citing his track record of prioritizing America’s interests and his potential to restore greatness to the House.
Following this announcement, Representative Greg Steube from Florida took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday evening to echo the sentiment with a tweet: “@realDonaldTrump for Speaker.”
It’s worth noting that the next speaker does not necessarily have to be a current member of the House, although all previous speakers in U.S. history have been sitting members.
This isn’t the first time that Trump’s name has been mentioned as a potential nominee for the speakership. Back in January, during McCarthy’s struggle to secure his speakership, Gaetz voted for Trump.
When questioned by reporters on the Hill after the Tuesday vote, Gaetz expressed his willingness to support several members of Congress should they decide to run for the position. He mentioned GOP Representatives Tom Emmer, Mike Johnson, Jodey Arrington, Kevin Hern, and Steve Scalise as potential candidates, none of whom voted to remove McCarthy from his role.
In the interim, Representative Patrick McHenry, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, will assume the role of Speaker until McCarthy’s replacement is selected.
House rules stipulated that McCarthy, upon his election as speaker in January, provide a confidential list of members who would succeed him as speaker pro tempore in case the position became vacant. It was revealed after McCarthy’s removal that McHenry was at the top of that list.
McHenry, a former media consultant and political operative, has represented North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District since 2004. He served as the House Republican chief deputy whip from 2015 to 2019 and assumed the position of chair of the House Financial Services Committee in January.
During the dramatic floor vote on Tuesday, eight Republicans aligned with House Democrats to remove McCarthy from his role as speaker. The voting process was preceded by an hour of debate, during which the majority of Republican lawmakers expressed strong opinions both in favor of and against McCarthy. This division within the Republican caucus led to anti-McCarthy voices speaking from the Democratic side of the House floor.
McCarthy announced on Tuesday evening that he would not seek reelection for the speakership.