BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — 17 News Political Analysts Neel Sannappa (D) and Cathy Abernathy (R) joined 17 News at Sunrise to share insights about yesterday’s historic vote to remove Bakersfield Congressman Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
The analysts discussed McCarthy’s future in politics after losing his leadership position as well as the future of the Republican Party.
According to Abernathy, the Democrats are to blame for siding with the far-right flank, spearheaded by Republican Florida lawmaker Matt Gaetz, who first brought forward the motion to vacate the Speaker seat.
In Sannappa’s view, McCarthy played a role in creating this situation by agreeing to terms proposed by the far-right flank that made it easier to trigger a vote to remove him, which came as part of the concessions he made which allowed him to gain enough Republican votes to ascend to the role in January after 15 rounds of voting.
The analysts discussed what this could mean for the Republican party as well as for the House of Representatives as a whole moving forward, as no vote will be allowed to be brought to the floor until a new Speaker is approved.
