Before the world really knew who Mike Johnson was, the U.S. House of Representatives was essentially a powder keg. We all remember the chaos of October 2023, but the story of the speaker of the house before Mike Johnson, Kevin McCarthy, is honestly one of the weirdest chapters in American political history. It wasn’t just a regular changing of the guard. It was a historic, messy, and frankly stressful demolition of a speakership that lasted only 269 days.
Imagine working your entire life for one job. You finally get it. Then, less than a year later, your own "friends" kick you out of the building. That’s the McCarthy era in a nutshell.
The 15-Round Heavyweight Bout
You can’t talk about the speaker before Mike Johnson without talking about how he got the gavel in the first place. Most speakers get elected in one vote. It’s a formality. But for Kevin McCarthy? It was a nightmare.
Back in January 2023, the House floor turned into a circus. It took 15 rounds of voting over four days for McCarthy to win. You’ve probably seen the photos—lawmakers shouting, late-night huddles, and even a moment where one representative had to be physically held back from another.
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To get those final votes, McCarthy had to give away the farm. He made a bunch of concessions to a small group of hardline conservatives, mainly from the House Freedom Caucus. The most "shot-in-the-foot" deal he made? He agreed to a rule that allowed just one single member to call for a vote to remove him.
Basically, he handed his critics a loaded gun and told them where the safety was.
The Fall: Why Kevin McCarthy Was Ousted
So, why did it all fall apart? Honestly, it came down to a "betrayal" over the budget.
In late September 2023, the government was about to shut down. McCarthy was stuck between a rock and a hard place. His right wing wanted massive spending cuts that would never pass the Senate, while the clock was ticking. To keep the lights on, McCarthy eventually blinked. He pushed through a "clean" continuing resolution with the help of—you guessed it—Democrats.
That was the breaking point for Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. On October 2, 2023, Gaetz used that "one-member" rule McCarthy had agreed to. He filed a motion to vacate the chair.
The next day, the House made history for all the wrong reasons. Eight Republicans joined every single Democrat to vote McCarthy out. The final tally was 216 to 210. For the first time in the history of the United States, a Speaker of the House was forcibly removed from office during a legislative session.
The Intermission: Patrick McHenry's 22 Days
People often forget there was a "mini-speaker" in between. Immediately after McCarthy was booted, Patrick McHenry became the Speaker pro tempore.
McHenry didn't have the full powers of a regular speaker. He was basically a caretaker meant to keep the seat warm while the GOP scrambled to find a replacement. He’s famous for that viral moment where he slammed the gavel down so hard it echoed through the entire chamber after declaring a recess.
The Failed Candidates and the Rise of Mike Johnson
After McCarthy left, the Republican conference looked like a group of people trying to organize a lunch order for 200 people who all have different allergies. Nobody could agree on anything.
- Steve Scalise was the first nominee, but he dropped out when it became clear he didn't have the votes.
- Jim Jordan went to the floor three times. He lost more support with every single vote.
- Tom Emmer lasted about four hours as the nominee before he had to bow out.
Finally, everyone was so exhausted and embarrassed by the three-week vacancy that they looked at Mike Johnson, a relatively low-profile vice-chair of the Republican conference, and said, "Yeah, sure, him."
Why This Matters for the Future
The tenure of the speaker of the house before Mike Johnson changed the rules of the game. It proved that a tiny group of lawmakers can effectively paralyze the entire federal government if the majority is slim enough.
McCarthy eventually resigned from Congress altogether at the end of 2023. He went from the pinnacle of power to a private citizen in a matter of weeks. It’s a stark reminder of how fragile political power actually is in the modern era.
Actionable Insights for Following the House
If you want to keep tabs on whether the current leadership is safe or if we’re headed for another "McCarthy moment," watch these three things:
- The Motion to Vacate: Check if the current rules still allow a single member to trigger a leadership vote. This is the ultimate "kill switch" for any speaker.
- Continuing Resolutions (CRs): Government funding deadlines are usually when speakers get in the most trouble. Look for "bipartisan" deals; that’s usually when the hardline wing starts talking about a coup.
- The Majority Margin: As long as the majority is only a few seats wide, the speaker is always walking on eggshells. One or two disgruntled members can stall any bill.
The drama didn't end when Mike Johnson took the gavel—it just changed the lead actor. Understanding how McCarthy fell helps you see the trapdoors that still exist under the speaker's chair today.
Next Steps: Review the current House Rules for the 119th Congress to see if the threshold for the "motion to vacate" has been raised, and track the next major government funding deadline to gauge the stability of the current speakership.