WASHINGTON — The three GOP House members from Illinois — Mary Miller, Darin LaHood and Mike Bost — all opposed removing Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker on Tuesday, though the votes of eight Republican hard-liners were enough to oust a speaker for the first time in the nation’s history.
McCarthy was dumped on a 216-210 vote. The eight Republicans joined Democrats to pass a measure to vacate the chair the California Republican won in January after a series of 15 votes.
All 14 Democrats from Illinois voted to remove McCarthy.
McCarthy was able to keep the support of the three Illinois GOP members, all from heavily Republican districts in central and southern Illinois.
Miller said in a statement: ”I voted against Kevin McCarthy 15 times in January, but no one else has stepped forward to run for Speaker and I will NOT surrender the majority to a “coalition government” with the Democrats through a power-sharing agreement with extreme liberals Nancy Pelosi and Hakeem Jeffries.”
McCarthy could have survived if a handful of Democrats had crossed the aisle. But Jeffries, the New York Democrat who is the House minority leader, and the Democratic members decided to stick together and let the Republicans — who are in the majority — figure out, for now, who they want to lead them.
LaHood said in a statement: “Using the Motion to Vacate to remove Speaker McCarthy with a majority of Democrat votes is a shameful maneuver that does a disservice to the American people and hinders the key conservative priorities that voters put a Republican Majority in the House to advance.”
LaHood added; “Today’s move by a few Members more concerned with clicks and sound bites, rather than working to achieve conservative policy victories, threatens to hand the House of Representatives back to Democrats. Hardworking Illinois families will pay the price for these political games.
Krishnamoorthi fundraising off the McCarthy vote
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., one of the top fundraisers in Congress, started raising money off the McCarthy ouster vote shortly after it happened Tuesday afternoon.
Krishnamoorthi had, as of June 30, a whopping $13,495,529.91 cash on hand in his main campaign fund, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In an email appeal, Krishnamoorthi said, “I can’t believe what I just witnessed. GOP extremists just voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker again. … This is Democrats’ moment to show the world we are a united force and are ready to retake control of the Majority — but we need to act right now to prove we have what it takes.
“We need a swift and MASSIVE surge of support — 400 gifts before midnight — to turn Republicans’ reckless day of chaos into a huge fundraising day for Democrats, OVERSHADOW the GOP’s shameful infighting, and hand these extremists a HUMILIATING loss. Can I count on your $14?”
