After the vote, the House entered uncharted territory, as no speaker had ever been removed by the House before. North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry was appointed speaker pro tem until a new speaker is elected.

The vote, which was 216-210, was based on a motion to vacate filed by Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz. This marked the end of months of growing dissent within a small group of House Republicans.

Several Republican representatives, including Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace, and Matt Rosendale, voted in favor of removing McCarthy. They also voted against tabling the motion, which would have halted the process.

On the other hand, Warren Davidson, Cory Mills, and Victoria Spartz voted against tabling but chose to keep McCarthy as speaker. Meanwhile, all House Democrats present voted to declare the speaker's office vacant.

This rare move had only occurred three times in history, with the previous instances happening in March 1910, July 2015, and now in the current month.

Before the vote, McCarthy expressed a willingness to accept his ousting as speaker, believing that his decision to support a bipartisan short-term spending bill that prevented a government shutdown was the right one. He emphasized the importance of his party's unity in this decision.

The group of dissenting Republican lawmakers had publicly criticized McCarthy for not adhering to a private deal he made with them in January to secure the speakership. They were particularly critical of his agreements with President Joe Biden to avoid a default on the nation's debt and his reliance on Democratic votes to pass a short-term government spending bill.

During the vote, Gaetz questioned whether McCarthy had brokered a private deal with Biden regarding legislation to provide additional aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion. He also criticized McCarthy for reportedly including border security in these negotiations.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that House Democrats would vote to vacate the chair in a "Dear Colleague" letter just before the vote. The Republican dissenters represented only a small fraction of the House Republican Conference, as many other Republicans supported McCarthy and defended his record.

Some GOP members, like Tom Cole and Steve Womack, argued that McCarthy had done the right thing by preventing a government shutdown and should not be punished for it. They viewed the motion to vacate as a distraction.

However, the dissenters, led by Gaetz, believed that McCarthy's decisions had eroded trust within the party, and they aimed to remove him from the speaker's position. Democrats, though, were ready to work with GOP lawmakers who were willing to break from the extremists and focus on moving Congress and the country forward.

Written by: Md Muktar Hossain