Texas Republicans in the U.S. Housee on Tuesday voted to keep Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the house after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida led the charge to have him removed.
Ultimately the house voted 216-210 in favor of the ouster, with eight Republicans joining all Democrats. The move was a shift from recent weeks and months, where several representatives from Texas were critical of the Speaker.
“Even people like Chip Roy and some of the more outspoken critics in the Texas delegation felt, in this case, that they wanted to back McCarthy,” said Matthew Watkins, managing editor for news and politics for the Texas Tribune. “They thought it was not a good idea to remove him in the middle of a big political fight. Some thought it was chaos or personal vendettas driving him to be removed by some of these Republican members.”
U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, will serve as speaker pro tempore until the House elects a replacement.
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