Kevin McCarthy removed as House speaker in historic vote: Highlights

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tonight accused new interim Speaker Patrick McHenry of kicking her out of her workspace in the Capitol just hours after the chamber’s abrupt change in leadership.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that she was told she had to “immediately” move out of her so-called hideaway office in the Capitol.

“With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol,” Pelosi said in a statement, referring to McHenry, R-N.C., by his new title.

Most House members have their offices in buildings across the street, but Pelosi has had one in the Capitol because she is a former speaker.

Read the full story here.

As Republicans left their meeting earlier tonight, many pointed to Scalise as a potential next speaker.

Scalise didn't refute that's a possibility. But he did acknowledge that the job won't be easy with a caucus that remains in a thin majority.

"So no matter who’s going to be the next speaker, the challenges still remain, but I think the opportunity is there to continue moving forward," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., praised McCarthy in a statement tonight while acknowledging his nine-month tenure as speaker was "bookended by historic fights."

“The Speaker’s appetite for worthy causes steered a narrow majority to seize historic opportunities for the American people and for conservative principles," McConnell said. "His willingness to face the biggest challenges head-on helped preserve the full faith and credit of the United States and showed colleagues how to handle every outcome with grace."

McConnell also said McCarthy embodied qualities of "unapologetic patriotism" and optimism that would "remain a valuable guide” for the House.

McCarthy held a lengthy, wide-ranging news conference tonight after he announced he would not run for speaker again.

The event with reporters lasted about 48 minutes and concluded with McCarthy saying that he felt "blessed" for having served in a variety of leadership roles before he became speaker this year.

"I believe in bringing new blood up and helping them, and I want to help them all the way," McCarthy said.

"Look, I enjoy you," he told reporters at the end. "I don't know if you'll cover me as much, but — I'm sure I won't miss you. But see you soon," he added with a smile before he turned to leave the podium.

Asked whether he would support a primary challenger against any of the eight Republicans who voted to oust him, McCarthy said he’s now freer than he had been as speaker.

“When I was running for speaker, I said I couldn’t get involved in primaries,” he told reporters at a lengthy news conference tonight.

“But I told the [Republican] conference, I’m a free agent now, aren’t I? I think I’m pretty good at electing people,” he said.

McCarthy then gestured and said “but no” and appeared to be making a joke.

In the wake of the historic ouster of McCarthy as House speaker, there is growing intrigue around whether former President Donald Trump supported the move.

Gaetz led the push, which succeeded when eight Republicans joined with all 208 Democrats to boot McCarthy.

After the vote, Gaetz spoke with reporters and suggested that he had Trump's backing.

“My conversations with the former president leave me with great confidence that I did the right thing,” he said.

Read the full story here.

After he suggested that he would not appear for a Fox News interview because of a meeting with the House GOP conference, Gaetz reversed course and doubled down on the move to boot McCarthy in an interview with the network tonight.

"We should get to electing a new, more conservative, more trustworthy speaker immediately," Gaetz told Fox News' Laura Ingraham. "This is not the time to go home for a week. We should stay and elect a new speaker."

Whip offices advised that there would be no House votes for the rest of the week in the aftermath of McCarthy's ouster.

Responding to criticism from some Republicans that Gaetz had worked with Democrats to remove McCarthy, Gaetz pointed fingers at McCarthy, insisting that he "was willing to partner with conservatives on the frivolous, but whenever there was a spending matter, he partnered with Democrats."

"That said, Speaker McCarthy’s time is over," he added.

McCarthy seemed to dismiss a question about whether he would resign from Congress in remarks to reporters tonight.

“I haven’t thought about that,” he said when he was asked.

McCarthy blamed Democrats for his ouster as speaker — arguing that they should have supported his remaining in the top role for institutional reasons.

McCarthy said he had a discussion with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the days he was trying to wrangle enough votes to get elected speaker. McCarthy claimed that Pelosi promised to support him if he faced a challenge.

McCarthy then argued that by joining Gaetz and other Republicans, Democrats picked politics over the institution.

Pelosi wasn't in Washington today; she remained in California for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's funeral.

McCarthy argued the spending bill that led to his ouster wasn't supported by Democrats, though more of them ultimately voted for it than did Republicans.

"It was all for the American people — I could not look the troops in the eye and say I could not pay them," McCarthy said.

He went on to tout his ability to reopen the Capitol after the Covid pandemic, saying he was proud to have opened the building to the public.

McCarthy said he doesn't regret passing a spending bill to avoid a shutdown over the weekend.

"I got elected to the seat I couldn’t get an internship for. I ended up being the 55th speaker of the House," he said.

But he said he doesn't regret the actions that led to his being removed.

"Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it is necessary," McCarthy said. "I don’t regret standing up for choosing governance over grievances."

Members leaving the House GOP conference meeting said there will be a candidate forum for speaker next Tuesday and an election on Wednesday the 11th. 

Separately, the whip offices have advised that no House votes will be held for the rest of this week.

McCarthy, who is addressing the media, began by quoting Lincoln.

"I’ve always been excited that I’ve been a happy conservative, but I’ve always believed that I’ve been so fortunate that I’ve been an American," he said.

Rep. Troy E. Nehls, R-Texas, said in a statement that he plans to nominate former President Donald Trump for speaker of the House when the lower chamber reconvenes.

"This week, when the U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes, my first order of business will be to nominate Donald J. Trump for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives," he said.

Nehls added, "President Trump, the greatest President of my lifetime, has a proven record of putting America First and will make the House great again."

(The speaker does not need to be a member of Congress.)

The House is leaving until next week before it begins to really address the speaker crisis.

Keep in mind: It was supposed to be on a recess right now but canceled it to deal with the new deadline to fund the government. Now, it has effectively wasted as much as two weeks as a potential shutdown nears again in November.

And when it actually does start to deal with the budget, the next speaker is going to be forced to deal with a conservative wing on steroids after it disposed of McCarthy with relative ease.

This budget battle will get ugly. Quick.

The House plans to adjourn until next Tuesday night, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said after he emerged from a meeting with House Republicans.

Burchett — who voted to oust McCarthy — said people in the meeting “were cheering for him, of course, and he graciously decided not to run again."

Gaetz missed a scheduled appearance on Fox News tonight, attributing his absence in a statement to the network to a GOP conference meeting after a "historic day" that led to McCarthy's ouster.

“I’m sorry I can’t join you tonight. I’m meeting with the House Republican Conference to chart our future. It’s been a historic day and our work is not done," he said, according to the network.

Gaetz was supposed to appear for an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, whose show airs at 7 p.m. ET.

Asked whether he would seek the speakership, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the Republican whip, instead pointed to Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana as a candidate for speaker.

"I’ve known for a long time he’d make a great speaker," Emmer said.

Emmer is among the candidates considered on the shortlist to replace McCarthy.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House, said after McCarthy's announcement that she will not seek to replace him.

"I'm not running for speaker," she said.

Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Andy Barr of Kentucky took to Fox News to explain their differing votes on ousting their fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.

Mace, who voted to remove him, implied McCarthy didn’t keep his word. “This is about someone that we can trust, someone who will keep their word,” Mace told Fox News’ Bret Baier.

When Baier noted that McCarthy had raised money for Mace in the past, she said, “I don’t owe anyone in Washington anything.”

Barr, who voted against ousting McCarthy, said today’s developments ruined unity in the Republican Party.

“Unity is our ally,” he said. “Disunity is the enemy of the conservative cause, and today is evidence of the fact that we have now given our majority to Hakeem Jeffries because we have refused to stay unified.”

Multiple GOP members told us that McCarthy told his conference he would not run for speaker again. Members left the meeting after a few minutes, seemingly done for the night and unclear on the next steps.

In January, on the second anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, McCarthy secured his position as House speaker by promising to widen access to Capitol surveillance video, which figures on the far right believe would reveal a massive false-flag setup by the federal government.

In February, McCarthy provided video to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who aired selective clips to downplay the violence of the attack.

In March, as NBC News reported, McCarthy met with Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, after Donald Trump criticized McCarthy for saying that the officer who shot and killed Babbitt "did his job" during the attack.

But there's no love lost between supporters of Jan. 6 defendants and former Speaker McCarthy.

“The feeling from our camp is good riddance,” Nicole Reffitt, the wife of Jan. 6 defendant Guy Reffitt, told NBC News. Reffitt was the first Jan. 6 defendant to go to trial; he was convicted and sentenced to seven years, which was (at the time) the longest sentence given to a Capitol attack defendant. 

"He made many promises, personally, to Ashli’s family that he never followed through on, and from our prospective, we need leadership that will make bold moves," Nicole Reffitt said.

McCarthy has told House Republicans that he will not run for speaker again as they meet to discuss a path forward, four sources said.

The full House Republican conference is meeting right now.

House Republicans are starting to arrive for their closed-door conference meeting to discuss the path forward after McCarthy's ouster.

Jeffries tonight asked for Republicans to work with Democrats after the historic vote to oust McCarthy.

“House Democrats will continue to put people over politics and work together in a bipartisan way to make life better for everyday Americans," Jeffries said in a statement.

“It is our hope that traditional Republicans will walk away from MAGA extremism and join us in partnership for the good of the country,” he said.

Jeffries earlier said Democratic leadership would vote yes on the motion to vacate the chair, supporting the effort to remove McCarthy.

In all, 208 of the 212 Democrats voted "yes"; the four others were absent.

Gaetz noted after today's ouster that McCarthy had encouraged Republicans who were disgruntled with his leadership not to hold back in trying to remove him.

“We heard Speaker McCarthy say that he wanted us to ‘Bring it on!’ So I guess we did,” Gaetz told reporters after the successful vote.

Last month, McCarthy challenged his detractors to file a motion to vacate if they wanted to remove him, two sources confirmed at the time.

In a closed-door House GOP meeting last month, McCarthy told colleagues, “If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f---ing motion,” according to the sources, who were in the room.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said in an interview that he doesn't plan to run for House speaker despite being well-liked by members of his conference.

"It absolutely will not be me," Cole told Fox News.

Cole, 74, chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, said tat he wants to hear what McCarthy has to say at an evening conference meeting behind closed doors tonight and that "that will influence whatever I do," he said.

"But I don't have any plans under any circumstances of running for speaker," Cole said.

While McCarthy’s term as speaker was no doubt short — lasting a little less than nine months — he’s a veteran compared to the man with the shortest term ever.

Rep. Theodore Pomeroy of New York was speaker for one day in 1869, according to the House website that covers the history of the chamber.

He did so on the final day of that Congress because Speaker Schuyler Colfax had resigned to become vice president with President Ulysses S. Grant.

Pomeroy, a Republican, was elected March 3, 1869. He thanked members “for the kind personal consideration which is involved in my unanimous election to this most honorable position,” according to the House history website.

Another short-term appointee was Speaker Michael Kerr of Indiana, a Democrat, who was elected speaker on Dec. 6, 1875, and died on Aug. 19, 1876, or after a little more than eight months on the job, according to the House website.

The longest-serving speaker was Samuel Rayburn, Democrat of Texas, who held the job for more than 17 years (though not consecutively). He has a House office building named after him.

The House had been scheduled to spend tomorrow voting on a 2024 government appropriations bill to avoid another shutdown showdown in November, but it's possible Republicans will have to delay the vote because of the chaos over the speakership.

The upper chamber was scheduled to vote on the funding bill for energy and water programs, one of a dozen appropriations bills Congress has been working on for the fiscal year that began Sunday.

Biden hopes that the House will quickly elect a speaker because "the urgent challenges facing our nation will not wait," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

"The American people deserve leadership that puts the issues affecting their lives front and center, as President Biden did today with more historic action to lower prescription drug prices," she said.

She added, "Once the House has met their responsibility to elect a Speaker, he looks forward to working together with them and with the Senate to address the American people’s priorities."

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was appointed as a temporary speaker (speaker pro tempore) after McCarthy was ousted this afternoon. The two are close allies.

McHenry holds one of the most powerful committee gavels in Congress as Financial Services chairman. The panel has jurisdiction over topics like banking, insurance, housing, international finance and money and credit.

McHenry, a former chief deputy whip under House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., helped pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

McHenry, 47, was first elected to the House in 2004, when he was 29, and is serving his ninth term.

Earlier this year, McCarthy tasked McHenry with negotiating the deal with the White House to raise the debt ceiling.

Some conservatives, however, hated the trillion-dollar debt and budget agreement, saying it didn’t go far enough to cut top-line spending levels, and they’ve privately blamed McHenry and Rep. Garrett Graves, R-La., who was also asked to work on the deal.

McHenry had praised McCarthy in a post Monday on X, formerly Twitter, saying McCarthy "delivered consistent, conservative leadership."

"We need his steady hand to make good on our Commitment to America," he wrote, criticizing the motion to vacate.

A plaque bearing McCarthy's name identifying him as speaker of the House is still hanging above the entrance to the House speaker's office.

Several U.S. Capitol Police officers are guarding the front entrance, with a crowd of reporters waiting outside for further developments.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called today’s vote to oust McCarthy a “sad day for our country” that sends a negative message to the rest of the world about American democracy.

Manchin, who is seen as a centrist and who frequently talks about the value of bipartisanship, said “it’s going to be hard” to govern without compromise.

“It’s a shame, first time in history, for us to be at this point where it’s almost a political sin to work with the other side,” he said.

“So, they have to patch it back together,” he said.

“Unless they come to an agreement that we’re going to run this place, and the shared value to a certain extent, trying to meet both sides a little bit halfway — It’s going to be hard,” he added.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., blasted Gaetz this afternoon, telling reporters he didn't believe Gaetz should be serving as a member of the Republican conference.

"I'd love to have him out of the conference," Bacon said when he was asked about any potential action against Gaetz, who pressed for McCarthy's removal vote. "He shouldn't be in the Republican Party."

Bacon also said the effort by eight of his colleagues (including Gaetz) to vote alongside Democrats was "a vote for chaos."

"I think it hurts our country, our Congress, and Republicans will be weaker for this come around next November. And I thought the behavior of these folks are shameful," Bacon said. "We don't let eight people dictate to the rest of the conference."

Asked about whether McCarthy would make another bid for the speakership, Bacon said he has "said earlier he would never quit."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., just walked up to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., saying: “Hey Lindsey, you know you don’t have to be a member of the House to be chosen speaker."

“Yeah, but you gotta be sane,” Graham said.

Both had a chuckle.

“And I’m sane enough to say no,” Graham added.

House Democrats will meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. ET in the aftermath of the historic vote that removed McCarthy from the speakership.

Republicans are meeting tonight, in about an hour.

Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson called the historic vote to oust McCarthy “a gift to Democrats” that jeopardizes elections next year.

“It sets off alarm bells as the 2024 election nears. There is hope across America, but Washington is broken. And today the GOP illustrated the dysfunction," Hutchinson said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, did not qualify for the second Republican primary debate.

Democrats this morning were shown a clip of McCarthy on CBS over the weekend trying to blame them for shutdown chaos, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said, calling it a clarifying moment for those in the party who might have voted to save him.

McCarthy's decision to blame Democrats on TV over the weekend was "one of the most crushingly stupid things somebody could do on the eve of your survival vote," he told NBC News this afternoon.

Connolly said he never considered voting to save McCarthy.

Of the potential for moderate Republicans and Democrats to join forces to elect a more moderate speaker, Connolly said it’s “probably not” realistic.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia slammed his successor and fellow Republican, Rep. Bob Good, for voting to oust McCarthy.

“The QAnon, crazy-adjacent guy who took me out because I did the gay wedding voted to oust McCarthy. And I’m, like, what a fricking sense of irony this is,” Riggleman said of Good.

Riggleman was elected to represent Virginia’s 5th District in 2018. He lost the GOP primary to Good in 2020 after having officiated a gay wedding. Following McCarthy’s removal from the speakership, Riggleman went after the Freedom Caucus.

“The crazies really do control the GOP right now,” he said.

Biden saw the developments today in the House, a White House official said, but he declined to weigh in on congressional politics.

“The president remains focused on delivering for the American people in meaningful ways, like the major action the White House announced today that will lower the cost of prescription drugs millions of Americans rely on," the official said.

Some Senate Republicans criticized McCarthy's ouster when they were asked for their reactions this afternoon.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told NBC News that the American people are thinking “Are you guys nuts?” in reaction to McCarthy’s removal as speaker.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., characterized McCarthy’s removal as “detrimental,” and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., appeared to echo a similar sentiment, saying, “It stinks, and it’s not good for the country.”

The House Republicans will meet behind closed doors at 6:30 p.m. ET to talk about what happens next.

Moments after the House was thrown into speaker-less flux, embattled Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York challenged New York Republicans to get behind Hakeem Jeffries as leader.

“Since the very first day of this Congress, it’s been chaos, division and dysfunction. We need real leadership to actually act on the priorities of the American people: delivering economic relief, defending our democracy, protecting reproductive freedom," Ryan said. "This is the moment for five Republicans to rise above the partisanship and unite with us as patriots who will move the country forward.”

New Yorkers on both sides of the aisle are widely seen as the majority make-or-breakers. That Ryan — a front-line Democrat himself — would throw the gauntlet at his fellow New Yorkers is notable, ratcheting up pressure for those GOP lawmakers to choose functionality instead of the chaos of recent months stemming from McCarthy’s speakership.

New York conservatives like Rep. Mike Lawler have been steadfast in their support of McCarthy and quick to denounce his naysayers.

Surrounded by reporters, Gaetz says there are several candidates he could back for speaker, including McCarthy's No. 2, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

Also on the list are Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas; Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla.; and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.

Zeldin left Congress in January after an unsuccessful run for governor of New York. It's important to remember the speaker of the House doesn't need to be a member of Congress.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has been speaking at Georgetown University and was just informed by the moderator that McCarthy had been ousted.

Pence took a long pause. 

"Well, let me say that chaos is never America’s friend. And it’s never a friend of American families that are struggling. And I’m deeply disappointed that a handful of Republicans ... partnered with all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to oust the speaker," he said.

But, Pence said, he expects that the vast majority of Republicans will continue to back McCarthy in votes for speaker to come.

Asked by reporters whether he plans to run for governor of Florida in 2026, Gaetz said, "No."

Roughly 10 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (an all-Democratic group) gathered on the floor after the vote to take a photo together.

Gaetz told a large group of reporters on the steps outside the Capitol, "Turns out getting 200 Republicans to trust you isn’t enough to stay speaker."

McCarthy remained on the House floor after the vote, shaking hands with members and exchanging hugs.

McCarthy left the House chamber and did not stop to talk with reporters on his way out.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., who was presiding over the House chamber during the vote, read the tally and said, "The office of speaker of the House of the United States of Representatives is hereby declared vacant." He then hit the gavel.

Rep. McHenry gaveled the House into recess to allow the party caucuses to meet.

McHenry, a tight McCarthy ally, slammed the gavel down pretty hard.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., has assumed the role of temporary speaker and is now overseeing the chamber.

This has never happened in U.S. history: The House just voted to remove its own speaker.

The House voted 216-210 to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., with a handful of conservatives joining Democrats to remove him. Seven members were absent.

What comes next? It's unprecedented. But for now, a temporary speaker pulled from a list of alternatives McCarthy compiled this year will take over. Read more about that here.

After she made it through the alphabet, 11 members hadn't voted. The clerk is now reading their names again.

Members can still change or add votes at the end, but Gaetz and Democrats have just crossed the 214-vote threshold. It appears they have the votes to oust McCarthy.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who voted earlier against tabling the motion to vacate the speakership, voted against the motion to remove McCarthy.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., commented on the House vote to oust McCarthy this afternoon, saying, “I don’t know how this story ends well for the American people, this kind of chaos."

The Will Rogers Hallway just outside the House chamber is eerily quiet, despite being packed.

Never experienced it like this.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., is the eighth Republican to vote in favor of the motion to vacate the speakership.

Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., is back at the Capitol now and will be at votes, per her office.

That means only four Democrats are absent, but the math stays the same: McCarthy would still need 214 "no" votes to defeat the motion to vacate.

At Georgetown University, former Vice President Mike Pence just addressed the motion to vacate vote taking place on Capitol Hill and indicated support for McCarthy.

"I think what you’re witnessing is a handful of Republicans partnering with Democrats in Congress to create chaos and oust a sitting speaker of the House," said Pence, who is from Indiana and spent 12 years in the House. "And it’s — I must tell you, this is one of the days that I don’t miss being in Congress."

"The truth is, truth is the chaos that we’re seeing on Capitol Hill today is just one more reason why the American people want to see new leadership. ... This is a very difficult time in the life of our nation," he continued.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., voted in favor of the motion to vacate the speakership.

Any member can change their vote before the process is over — but with six Republicans voting to remove McCarthy, he appears headed for a certain defeat.

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, just voted against ousting McCarthy as speaker.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., voted to vacate the speakership.

In no surprise, Gaetz, who filed the resolution for the motion to vacate the speakership, voted "yes." He is the fifth Republican to do so.

As the votes are tallied, McCarthy is sitting with John Leganski, his deputy chief of staff. He also sat with Leganski during votes when he ascended to the speakership in January.

A majority of whoever is present for this vote is needed to oust McCarthy. Based on the absences we've seen today, the magic number should be 214.

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., was the fourth Republican to vote in favor of the motion to vacate the speakership.

Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, voted against Gaetz's effort to oust McCarthy as speaker.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., became the third Republican to vote against McCarthy.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., voted "yes" on the motion to vacate the speakership. He had not announced his position before the vote began.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, voted to oust McCarthy from the speakership.

Members are voting; a majority is needed to remove McCarthy from the office of speaker.

The vote is taking place in alphabetical order. Members will each have their name called and will shout out their vote. It's a "yea" against McCarthy (to declare the office of speaker vacant) and a "nay" to keep him in his job.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the GOP conference chair, delivered remarks boosting McCarthy, suggesting on the House floor this afternoon that Republican members "strongly" support him in spite of efforts by Gaetz to undermine his leadership.

"This boy from Bakersfield, he cares deeply about his constituents, his country and the American people, and that includes each and every one of his colleagues," Stefanik said of McCarthy, adding that he had supported milestones with his members, and "cheered" for them at moments when "we haven't believed in ourselves."

"Now more than ever, the Republicans must unify; the stakes are too high," Stefani added. "We need to save our country, which is why this conference is proud to strongly support Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House."

Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., made a closing argument for the McCarthy side.

"Democracy is supposed to be hard. ... The alternative is a closed-door process where 2000-page bills come out of the speaker’s office at midnight and are forced to the floor the next morning. Kevin McCarthy has broken that cycle. That alone is enough for him to remain our speaker," Armstrong said.

"But that doesn’t deliver his opponents what they crave the most: attention," he added.

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., a close friend of McCarthy's and one of his top lieutenants, is essentially shouting on the floor right now.

"I keep wondering what is going on — are we redefining what conservative is? What’s going on in this country today? What’s going on in this body? We have FreedomWorks, Heritage, Chip Roy and Jim Jordan say something’s conservative and these folks say it’s not."

"And all of a sudden my phone keeps [getting] text messages," Graves continued, holding up his phone to show fundraising emails from members who oppose McCarthy. "Text messages saying, 'Hey, give me money.' Oh, look at that. ... It’s disgusting. It’s what’s disgusting about Washington."

Graves helped negotiate the debt ceiling deal that Gaetz called McCarthy's "original sin," leading to this motion to vacate.

McCarthy's side has about 7 minutes left to debate, while Gaetz's has 5 ½. It'll take a little longer than that, so we're tracking for potentially 4 p.m. ET for the motion to vacate vote to begin

A handful of moderate House Democrats have received calls from Republicans asking them to vote to save McCarthy’s job, four sources familiar with the calls tell NBC News.

One source describes those calls as “begging," while another described the calls as “temperature taking.”

We have not yet heard of any Dems getting this kind of outreach directly from McCarthy himself. As of now, Democrats are steadfast in their opposition, though. 

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., warned fellow Republicans that if they remove McCarthy, it will empower Democrats and “this House will shift dramatically to the left.”

He says such a move would “effectively neutralize the House Republican majority” they secured in 2022.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has a history of opposing Republican speakers, said he supports McCarthy because he has given regular order a chance.

“If regular order fails today — if you vacate the speaker, nobody is going to try it again. This institution