Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Plots Revenge Against Eight Republicans Who Voted To Oust Him

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is enacting a revenge plot against the eight House Republicans who ousted him.

In October 2023, McCarthy was booted from his position as House speaker when a group of Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to vacate the chair.

McCarthy is out for revenge against the group that he has dubbed the “Crazy Eight” or “Gaetz Eight” and its leader, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), who introduced the motion to have the speaker vacated.

The former House speaker left Congress two months later. This ended up shrinking his party’s majority in the chamber.

McCarthy’s ally, Brian Walsh, is working to round up primary challengers to the “Gaetz Eight.”

The ousted speaker is prepared to mobilize his still-sizable donor network to arrange primary challenges. He is focusing on three representatives specifically. His allies believe that Reps. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), Bob Good (R-Virginia) and Eli Crane (R-Arizona) are currently the most vulnerable targets and are hoping to recruit other Republican candidates in their districts.

“These traitors chose to side with Nancy Pelosi, AOC and over 200 Democrats to undermine the institution, their fellow Republicans and a duly elected speaker,” Walsh said in a statement. “There must be consequences for that decision.”

Mace was a member of McCarthy’s inner circle before she voted to oust him. He reportedly persuaded her former chief of staff to resign and then run for her seat.

Newly leaked private messages from Gaetz reveal that he wanted to oust McCarthy due to the House Ethics Committee’s resumed examination of the representative’s alleged payments to a minor for sex.

The members of Gaetz Eight have been facing repercussions for upsetting McCarthy.

The Republican Main Street Caucus and Republican Governance Group privately booted Mace, whose efforts at getting attention seem to have become less appealing to her colleagues.

A well-connected GOP outside spending group is planning on playing in the primary races, and McCarthy is likely to be directly involved on behalf of the challengers as well.

Other members like Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona) and Crane, are aware that their big donors have stopped contributing.

Burchett told CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju that he certainly noticed that his donations dried up.

“Some very wealthy folks, and they’ve been very kind to me in the past” have stopped contributing, the Tennessee Representative stated. “And I hope that we can mend the fences.”

Crane told Raju he had been feeling a fundraising hit.

“Yeah, that’s definitely a reality,” he claimed. “And I think anybody that participated in that knew that going forward.”

On November 9, 2023, McCarthy, in an interview with CNN, called the eight Republicans “disruptors” and expressed his surprise that Mace and Burchett joined Gaetz to oust him. He also stated that the Republican Party would greatly benefit if the Florida Representative was no longer a House member.

McCarthy said that, in the end, it is up to the House GOP members to decide if Gaetz should be expelled but added that he feels the conference cannot “heal: if no one is held accountable for removing him.

He continued saying that he believes Mace should not be reelected, especially when considering her “philosophy” and “flip-flopping.”

Mace responded by calling McCarthy “a complete loser,’ who should “get a job.”

Gaetz responded to McCarthy’s comments by telling CNN that he was offering his “thoughts and prayers” to him while he is working through his grief. Burchett also replied to these comments by stating that the ousted speaker was “bitter.”

In November 2023, Burchett accused McCarthy of elbowing him in one of his kidneys in a U.S. Capitol hallway.

The Tennessee representative told reporters that he had been elbowed in the back while speaking to a reporter.

Burchett asked McCarthy why he elbowed him and then screamed at him saying he should “have some guts.”

The former House speaker denied that he intended to shove or elbow Burchett. He stated that the hallway he walked through was tight.