KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City-area politicians are reacting to the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker in a 216-210 vote Tuesday afternoon.
While conservative Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida initiated the vote, Democrats — including Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri and Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas — joined forces to remove McCarthy in a historic first for U.S. politics.
Rep. Mark Alford, a Republican of Missouri, voted in favor of keeping McCarthy in his chair as speaker.
A faction consisting of eight Republicans voted to remove McCarthy, none of which are local to Missouri or Kansas.
In an interview with KSHB 41's Dia Wall, Alford explained why he voted to keep McCarthy:
"Well, I voted to keep Kevin McCarthy. Basically, this was a vote to vacate the chair, and that's exactly what ended up happening. We have no speaker of the House right now. We have a speaker pro temp, but everything has ground to a halt now. These appropriation bills we've been working on to fund our government, we passed on Saturday a continuing resolution that would keep our government going and funded through the next 45 days, that has stopped now. And so, we have got to figure out a way forward.
I voted for Kevin McCarthy because I feel like he has done the best job humanly possible, holding our conference together, holding this body together, and basically holding America together.
There are a few people who did not like him from the beginning, and in fact, I just got a fundraising email from Matt Gaetz, the one leading this "vacate the chair" nonsense. I think it was sophomoric, I think it was a fool's errand, and I think that everything they wanted to accomplish with this is now going to have the opposite effect. We're grinding to a halt in Congress when we need to be continuing the roll and momentum that we've had to get things done for the American people."
Cleaver issued the following statement:
“When Democrats had an identical majority in the House of Representatives just one year ago, Speaker Pelosi reached across the aisle to pass historic legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, Honoring Our PACT Act, Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Respect for Marriage Act, National Defense Authorization Act, and so much more—because the American people sent us to Washington to deliver real results for our communities.
“However, since the opening of the 118th Congress, Kevin McCarthy has actively opposed bipartisanship in the People’s House, fomented chaos and crises by kowtowing to the most extreme members of his caucus, and failed to follow through on the most basic of bipartisan agreements time and time again.
“The American people deserve leaders that will put families before political theater and partisan brinksmanship—which is something Speaker McCarthy has proven incapable of doing. I could not in good conscience support such an individual for the esteemed position of Speaker.”
Davids provided the following statement:
“We just came to the brink of a government shutdown, but instead of working toward a long-term solution to keep our government open or working to lower costs for families, the House majority is now engaged in needless partisan infighting. Kansans need Congress to stop the political games and get back to working for the families we represent.”
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