South Florida House representatives sound off on Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ouster
MIAMI - On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives made history after voting to remove its speaker Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
The push for his removal was led by Pensacola Rep. Matt Gaetz, who orchestrated the move on an obscure "motion to vacate" and pushed ahead into a roll call.
In the end, the vote was 216 in favor of his ouster and 210 against.
Later in the day, McCarthy said he would not run for speaker again.
"I will not seek to run again for Speaker of the House," McCarthy wrote on X. "I may have lost a vote today, but I fought for what I believe in—and I believe in America. It has been an honor to serve."
Here is what South Florida House members had to say on social media about McCarthy's ouster:
Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, representing U.S. House Florida District 20, said "Republicans have been consumed by a civil war that has disrupted the ability of Congress to serve the American people. Much of this infighting can be attributed directly to the disingenuous leadership of Kevin McCarthy."
"To uphold my solemn responsibility as a Member of Congress, I voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker."
Fellow Democrat Lois Frankel, representing District 22, said "House Republicans have unleashed chaos, dysfunction, and extremism on hardworking Americans. It's time for them to end their civil war."
"I believe removing Speaker McCarthy is in the best interests of this Congress and the communities we represent."
Jared Moskowitz, Democrat representing District 23, had this to say earlier in the day, "I do not believe this is a time for celebration. Our institutions are in great peril. But that is not the fault of Democrats."
Democrat Frederica Wilson, representing District 24, said "Today is a sad and solemn day for democracy. GOP extremists are holding our nation's government hostage, bringing chaos and dysfunction to the halls of Congress."
"It's time for Republicans to clean up their mess and restore integrity to the People's House."
Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Representing District 25, said, "This is a grave moment for Republicans ensnared in their own chaos, but it must not distract us from the sacred constitutional duty Congress has to govern for the good of our nation."
"House Democrats are ready to work in a bipartisan manner to do just that."
"Our hope is that serious, sober Republicans reject the MAGA extremism that brought us here and join us to do the people's work."
"House Republicans are in chaos. The extreme conservatives in control of Congress only want paralysis and dysfunction. I will not embolden extremists and I will not vote to bail out a Speaker who enables them and simply cannot be trusted. This is a GOP crisis only they can solve."
Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, representing District 26 said, "A small group of members in coordination with the radical left socialist squad are attempting to derail the conservative GOP agenda."
"Over the last 9 months, Speaker McCarthy has demonstrated his ability to unite the GOP, kept his promise to pass the strongest border security bill, and pushed back against the Biden Administration's wasteful spending, regulatory overreach and woke agenda."
"I refuse to vote with the socialists in the squad to remove the Speaker chosen by GOP members."
Maria Elvira Salazar, Republican representing District 27 said, "Today showed us that while democracy can be messy, House Republicans remain committed to governing for the American people."
Fellow Republican Carlos Gimenez, former Miami-Dade mayor, representing District 28, said, "Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been a champion for the American Dream his entire career."
"I lost my native homeland of Cuba to a brutal Communist tyranny - everything I am is because of America."
"We need to keep Speaker McCarthy & continue fighting to protect our freedoms!"
"I'm a Reagan Republican - I'll take a Republican who agrees with me 80% of the time over a socialist Democrat any day of the week."
"It's despicable how 8 of my colleagues sided with the Socialist Squad to sabotage our Republican majority."
