Twenty-four hours after a dramatic shakeup on Capitol Hill, Republicans from New York’s congressional swing districts remain furious at the eight GOP lawmakers who voted to rip the speaker’s gavel from Kevin McCarthy.

Several are demanding accountability.


What You Need To Know

  • “They need to be removed from their committees, and they need to be kicked out of [the House GOP] conference,” Rep. Mike Lawler said of the Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy

  • So far, New York’s frontline Republicans are holding their cards close as to who they would like to see replace McCarthy

  • New York helped Republicans win the House majority, allowing McCarthy to become speaker in the first place. A prolific fundraiser, McCarthy has visited New York swing districts to help raise money for frontliners

“They need to be removed from their committees, and they need to be kicked out of [the House GOP] conference,” Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler said in an interview Wednesday morning.

“The fact that we have an egotistical maniac right now holding the United States House of Representatives hostage is a scary situation,” said Nassau County Rep. Anthony D’Esposito.

With McCarthy opting to not run for the job again, conversations in Washington are rapidly turning to who could replace him. Already, high-profile names like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana have thrown their hats into the ring.

But Scalise and Jordan are stout conservatives, and the elevation of either to the speaker’s post could pose a political problem for House Republicans in blue districts.

So far, New York’s frontline Republicans are holding their cards close, as they outline what they are looking for from a potential next speaker and from their fellow rank-and-file Republicans.

“We need in our conference to accept that we’re going to have to have a speaker who will mold consensus and accept a degree of compromise on our behalf,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro.

At the same time, Molinaro said, the next leader needs to “forward effectively an aggressive agenda to meet the needs of the American people.”

Lawler said he wants to know what the candidates for speaker did to support McCarthy in the lead up to his ouster.

“I think that’s important to understand: what were they doing to prevent this,” Lawler added.

New York helped Republicans win the House majority, allowing McCarthy to become speaker in the first place earlier this year.

A prolific fundraiser, McCarthy has visited New York swing districts to help raise money for frontliners.

So, what could his ouster mean ahead of 2024 for the Republicans in New York’s key contests?

Reflecting back, Molinaro said, “No one member of Congress had worked harder to help me certainly get here or to win the majority — and then ultimately work towards growing it — than Kevin McCarthy.”

“Day and night, anything that we need, he has been there,” D’Esposito said. “But I am confident that whoever we elect as our next Speaker of the House will also be there.”

There is another frustration for these frontline Republicans. Beyond the chaos being a not great look, jettisoning McCarthy has also brought work in the House effectively to a dead stop with just weeks to go before the threat of a government shutdown is once again a real possibility.