Key Points
- Rep. Kevin McCarthy appears not to have the votes necessary to win the House speaker’s gavel on the first ballot as a crucial group of conservative Republicans demanded a “radical departure from the status quo” in chamber leadership.
- During a Sunday night conference call with members of the GOP conference, McCarthy (R-Calif.) acceded to a key demand pressed by members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, who had insisted on allowing the process to remove a speaker — known as a “motion to vacate” — to be initiated by just five Republican members instead of a majority.
- A “motion to vacate” was filed in 2015 by then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and triggered the resignation of then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). The rule was changed in 2019 by Democrats.
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