Thompson calls Republicans who voted to remove House Speaker ‘shameless self-promoters’
Centre County’s representative in the U.S. House issued a strong statement of opposition after the House voted Tuesday to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Howard, voted against the “motion to vacate” put forward by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Seven House Republicans — Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Matt Rosendale of Montana — joined Gaetz and House Democrats in passing the motion in a 216-210 vote.
McCarthy had support from most Republicans in the House, but the group of hard-right Republican detractors were successful in the Gaetz-led effort to remove him.
“Today’s vote was nothing but a distraction from a handful of shameless self-promoters,” Thompson said in a written statement. “Their form of demagoguery doesn’t work without a foil. Now, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.”
On Monday, Thompson showed support for McCarthy in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. He pointed to spending cuts, streamlined energy permitting, reformed welfare programs and more that he wrote House Republicans had accomplished due to “the strong leadership” of McCarthy.
It’s the first time in U.S. history that a House Speaker has been ousted from the job. Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was named speaker pro tempore in the interim, but the next steps are uncertain for the House.
The Associated Press contributed.
This story was originally published October 3, 2023 at 8:03 PM.
