Kevin McCarthy Faces Recall Vote from Far-Right Republicans, a First in 113 Years: 'Bring It On'

Kevin McCarthy's reign as speaker of the House is under threat as far-right members of the Republican Party move to oust him from the nation's third-highest post.

A "motion to vacate" — which automatically triggers a recall vote against McCarthy — was filed on Monday by House Freedom Caucus member Matt Gaetz, marking the first formal attempt to remove a House speaker in 113 years.

"I have enough Republicans where at this point next week, one of two things will happen: Kevin McCarthy won’t be the speaker of the House or he’ll be the speaker of the House working at the pleasure of the Democrats,” Gaetz told reporters after filing the motion, per the Associated Press. “I’m at peace with either result because the American people deserve to know who governs them.”

"Bring it on," McCarthy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after Gaetz's filing. Gaetz then re-posted McCarthy's message, adding, "Just did."

Stripping McCarthy of his leadership position only requires a simple majority in the House, effectively putting his fate in the hands of Democrats.

McCarthy's potential ouster comes as the fractured House GOP continues to butt heads on spending bills — infighting that has persisted for several months and nearly resulted in a government shutdown over the weekend.

"I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy," Gaetz, one of McCarthy's loudest critics, said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. "Look, the one thing everybody has in common is that nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy. He lied to Biden. He lied to House conservatives."

Gaetz continued: "Kevin McCarthy's goal was to make multiple contradictory promises to delay everything back up against shutdown politics and at the end of the day, blow past the spending guardrails he had agreed."

While Democrats share little in common with the House Freedom Caucus — the furthest-right voting bloc in Congress — many have agreed that McCarthy's inability to unite Republicans creates unnecessary roadblocks in the House.

Democrats have also expressed frustration that McCarthy, reportedly under pressure by Donald Trump, launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden without sufficient evidence — and while the government was on the verge of shutting down.

Progressive New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN on Sunday that she would "absolutely" vote to oust McCarthy.

McCarthy himself is largely to blame for the current recall attempt.

When Republicans regained the House majority in January, the party was immediately divided on who to elect as House speaker. The majority party's leader — in this case, McCarthy — is generally elected with ease, but far-right members refused to support him, resulting in the first deadlocked House speaker election in a century.

Rather than step back and make way for a more unifying Republican leader to assume the role, McCarthy insisted on becoming speaker and began making concessions to right-wing holdouts in order to earn their support.

By the time he secured the necessary votes to become speaker — which required a historic four days and 15 rounds of voting — he had conceded much of his power by promising Republicans that they could move to oust him at any time if they were dissatisfied with his leadership.

A new House speaker will be selected if Republican rebels succeed in ousting McCarthy, but there is not yet a clear successor.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise — who is more conservative than McCarthy — would be the obvious replacement as the House GOP's No. 2, though his ongoing treatment for blood cancer would potentially prevent him from stepping in right away.