Washington - Kevin McCarthy, 58, found himself removed from his position as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday (Oct 3) in a significant shift brought about by Republican hardliners. This marked an unprecedented development in the 234-year history of the House, as it endorsed a resolution "to vacate the office of the Speaker" with a vote tallying 216-210, thereby paving the way for an extraordinary leadership contest to replace McCarthy. This change occurred a year before the presidential election.

McCarthy's collaboration with Democrats to pass a stopgap funding measure and avert a government shutdown over the weekend had stirred considerable displeasure among the Republican hardliners. Republican lawmaker Matt Gaetz took the lead in the endeavor to oust McCarthy, submitting his resolution from the House floor on Monday, which formally declared the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives vacant.

Gaetz explained his motivation for this move, stating during the Tuesday vote, "Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word. The one thing that the White House, House Democrats, and many of us on the conservative side of the Republican caucus would argue is that the thing we have in common- Kevin McCarthy said something to all of us at one point or another that he didn't really mean and never intended to live up to."

Following the last-minute funding extension measure passed by the chamber on Saturday, Gaetz had made it clear that he intended to initiate McCarthy's removal from the House Speaker's position. He remarked on Sunday to CNN, "The only way Kevin McCarthy is speaker of the House at the end of this coming week is if Democrats bail him out."

Even though McCarthy has characterized himself as an "optimist," he has not been able to appease the uncompromising right-wing faction of the Republican party. His initial ascension to the speakership in January required a record-breaking 15 rounds of voting to secure, ultimately succeeding after making concessions to a group of approximately 20 far-right Republicans. One of these concessions was a rule change that enabled a single disgruntled member to call for a vote to elect a new speaker of the House.

Now, Republicans will convene at 6:30 pm (2230 GMT) to deliberate on nominating a candidate for the new Speaker's position. However, McCarthy has made it clear that he will not seek re-election for Speaker and instead intends for the conference to select a different candidate. He stated, "I believe I can continue to fight, maybe in a different manner. I will not run for speaker again; I'll have the conference pick somebody else,"

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has called upon the US House of Representatives to promptly elect a new Speaker. The White House issued a statement emphasizing that due to the pressing challenges facing the nation, it hopes the House will swiftly choose a new speaker.