‘No jubilation’: North Bay congressmen react to Speaker Kevin McCarthy ouster

Rep. Huffman hopes Republicans choose a replacement “who can work with us, and govern. This experiment with empowering nihilists didn’t go so well.”

October 04, 2023

Kevin McCarthy’s House speakership had just gone down in flames, but there was no gloating or exultation Tuesday from either of the North Bay’s congressmen.

“There was no jubilation,” recounted Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, two hours after McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican, was stripped of the speaker’s gavel in an historic 216-210 vote.

“There was just a heavy sense that this was unprecedented and really monumental.”

“It’s a sad, somber day for the country,” agreed Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, who along with Huffman and every other Democrat in the chamber voted in favor of the obscure “motion to vacate” introduced by Rep. Matt Gaetz, McCarthy’s GOP nemesis. The far-right provocateur from Florida was backed by a rump group of seven other Republicans from the hardline Freedom Caucus.

And that was enough to depose McCarthy, who needed help from Democrats to keep his job but didn’t get it.

All 12 members of California’s Republican Congressional delegation, including McCarthy, opposed Gaetz’s motion, while the 39 Democrats in attendance voted in favor. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was reported to be back home in her San Francisco district, did not cast a vote.

he reasons McCarthy didn’t peel off a single Democratic vote were “pretty straightforward,” said Huffman, who noted that the speaker never sought their help. “He never came to us with anything.”

The second reason: Democrats have learned the hard way that McCarthy couldn’t be trusted, having walked away from a broad budget deal reached earlier this year with the White House.

“He has broken so many promises, and inflicted so much injury on the institution, that trusting him in a moment like this was not an option,” said Huffman.

Asked how a new arrangement might work – a House of Representatives led by a different Republican presiding officer – the North Bay congressmen had slightly divergent outlooks.

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By:  Austin Murphy
Source: The Press Democrat