A House Divided Could Not Stand: 3 Weeks of an Immobilized U.S. Chamber
A group of far-right House Republicans left the Speaker of the House’s office empty for three weeks when they ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Oct. 3. Without a speaker, the House was virtually paralyzed. The selection of a new speaker was required for the House to continue its standard operations. With growing anxieties about how the United States will recover from this speakership crisis in time to address international crises and domestic issues, the House needed to act much faster than it had in previous weeks.
The House elected Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) to serve as its next speaker on October 25, 2023. Johnson is often credited as a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of 36 ultra-conservative House Republicans, many of whom are relatively new to the House, formed in 2015. The Freedom Caucus made a reputation for themselves as defiant of House Republican leadership, voting as a bloc against initiatives contrary to their far-right values, such as extreme social and fiscal conservatism. As a member of the Freedom Caucus, Johnson garnered nearly all of their support during his speaker election.
The removal of McCarthy and the election of Johnson signaled the ever-growing tensions between members of the Republican Party, both within and outside of the House. Partisan politics are increasingly influencing policy decisions in Congress, highlighting the link between morality and polarity.
While party politics are well understood due to the recent political climate, the lack of precedent in this calamity cannot be overstated. The House has never before deposed a sitting speaker. Driven by Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and other members of the Freedom Caucus, the vote to remove McCarthy succeeded by a narrow 216 to 210 vote. Joined by House Democrats, Gaetz, and seven other Republicans made history in early October, instigated by the collision of far-right Republicans and their more moderate peers. Incessant polarization of the Republican Party, as well as between political parties, set the United States on an unstable path to the election of its next speaker.
A Tale of Four Nominees
McCarthy, chose to step back from the post of speaker after his removal. Since McCarthy did not intend to pursue any future reinstatement, the power vacuum left by his departure sparked interest among the House Republicans. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) began his campaign for House Speaker as a frontrunner, winning the secret ballot election for his party’s official nomination 113 to 99. However, he withdrew just one day after his initial nomination. Scalise’s withdrawal, while a damper on the urgency to elect a new speaker, opened up the opportunity for a new frontrunner to seize party nomination: Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), the far-right founder of the infamous Freedom Caucus. Republicans elected Jordan as their nominee on Oct. 13 in a vote of 124 to 97.
Following Jordan’s nomination, the House commenced the speaker election with Jordan as their nominee on October 17, 2023. Jordan needed 217 votes to ascend to the speakership. During the first vote with Jordan as the nominee, Jordan lost the votes of 20 Republicans. The dissents emphasized how polarization plagues the House: some moderate Republicans opted for Scalise, McCarthy, and other House Republicans rather than Jordan’s far-right reputation. Jordan continued to pursue the speakership in a second and third vote on October 17, 2023. Jordan was persistent, pledging to Americans that “We’re going to keep working, and we’re going to get the votes,” however, his optimism did not prevail. Jordan only received 210 votes on his third attempt to be elected. Despite the urgency, intra-party politics fed into dissent. Jordan’s inability to achieve a majority vote reflects the extreme polarization of the Republican Party and of U.S. politics.
Morals also played a role in Jordan’s losses: Republicans such as Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) admonished the pressure Jordan imposed on dissenting party members. Many faced coercion such as death threats, barrages of phone calls, and criticism from other Republican lawmakers. “If you’re trying to get my vote, if you try to pressure me, you lose me as well,” Diaz told reporters. Like Diaz, Republicans were stuck between extreme polarity and their own consciences and morals.
After three rounds of voting, Jordan did not end the House stand-still. Following Jordan’s loss, House lawmakers flocked to announce their candidacy or publicize support for their preferred bids. The frontrunners of the secret election were Representative Tom Emmer (R-LA), the third-in-command majority whip, and Representative Mike Johnson (R-MN), a far-right traditionalist. Emmer was nominated over Johnson for the position. Seeing as Majority Leader Scalise had dropped out of the pool, Emmer was the highest-ranked House Republican contending for the nomination. However, his title did not secure him the support he needed and he dropped out only hours after his nomination.
With Emmer out of the contest, Republicans ran low on their options for speaker. The House eventually chose Johnson, who had the second-most votes in the last secret ballot, as the nominee after three separate ballots. Johnson, along with his extremely conservative ideology, was intimately involved in Trump’s 2020 impeachment defense team and has garnered support and praise from Trump. The former president assured Americans that Johnson is a “fantastic gentleman” and will do great things as Speaker of the House. With the push of Trump’s endorsement, the House elected Johnson as speaker on Oct. 25, 2023, in a vote of 220 to 209.
A House (Party) Divided
After Johnson’s election, Trump also took credit outside of a New York courtroom, claiming “At this time yesterday, nobody was thinking of Mike, and then we put out the word, and now he’s the Speaker of the House.” Trump’s political capital during the speaker election was undeniable: McCarthy, he vehemently opposed, Emmer, he ridiculed, and Johnson, he supported. The former president is also associated with the growing polarization poisoning the U.S. and both of its major political parties. During his term from 2016 to 2020, the Pew Research Center found that he had the largest-ever partisan gap in approval ratings; while 86% of Republicans supported his actions as president, only 6% of Democrats felt the same. Trump’s influence over these speaker elections and influence in the initial removal of McCarthy indicates how that partisan gap is only widening from his persistence in politics.
Political polarization has been growing in both major U.S. political parties since the early 1970s. The Pew Research Center found in a 2022 study that, on average, Democrats are more liberal and Republicans are more conservative than in the early 1970s. Additionally, there are only around 25 moderate representatives left in Congress, compared to 160 in the 1970s. With Trump’s influence, American partisanship has only intensified. At the onset of Trump’s presidency, Democrats and Republican beliefs began to diverge more than ever before, including in their capacity to work together. Particularly, Trump’s effect on media outlets furthered the disconnect between the two parties. A study by the Pew Research Center concluded that the parties placed trust and viewership in two “nearly inverse” media environments. Not only are Americans disagreeing at a higher rate, but they are also not listening to the same information, increasing the polarity between the two parties. As Trump pursues the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 presidential elections, he continues to demonstrate how morality conflicts with polarity.
Gaetz’s reasoning for ousting McCarthy was rooted in his collaboration with Senate Democrats in order to avoid a government shutdown in early October. McCarthy, facing accusations of betrayal from his own party, responded with morals in mind, “I fought for what I believe in.” McCarthy’s attempts to avoid a government shutdown were interpreted by Gaetz and other House Republicans as sneaky and disloyal, though McCarthy is cited as acting for the best of Americans. McCarthy’s true intentions cannot be known, but the conflict between politicians’ consciousness and their party values has continued to infiltrate the House.
Fears of being perceived as dysfunctional or unstable caused the House Republicans to act as quickly as possible to find a new speaker. Speaker Johnson is now at the helm of the House and will be faced with the same issues of polarization, morality, and in-fighting faced by his predecessors. These bizarre and immobilizing three weeks ended with a resolution, but the issues at the root of the polarization that drove it are still very much at large.