After Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, hand-picked by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to serve as speaker pro tempore until a new speaker is elected, began kicking prominent Democrats out of their Capitol office spaces, Democrats claimed he was engaging in what Axios called “partisan retribution.”
As it turns out, he probably was — and it doesn’t look like he’s trying to hide it, either.
After former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was kicked out of her “hideaway office” in the Capitol, McHenry quickly assigned a new occupant to the space — former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Rep. Garret Graves told Axios that the space was considered the office of the former speaker, which Pelosi had been and McCarthy became on Tuesday.
“The office that Pelosi currently occupies is the office of the preceding speaker,” the Louisiana Republican said. “”Now that she and other Democrats have caused there to be an immediately preceding speaker, she has removed herself from that office … that was a decision that Democrats and Speaker Pelosi made in giving that office to McCarthy.”
After Florida’s Matt Gaetz and seven other Republicans allied themselves with a unanimous Democratic caucus to remove McCarthy as speaker, the California Republican announced he would not seek the position again.
A vote for the new speaker is expected to take place Wednesday. The early frontrunners for the position are Reps. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Pelosi was not the only Democrat to lose her Capitol office space, and may or may not have been the first to get the boot, but her eviction notice was the first to be reported Tuesday.
Then, early Wednesday morning, Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that former House minority whip Steny Hoyer was being “kicked out of his Capitol hideaway” as well.
Sherman reminded readers that Capitol real estate is in short supply, and that supply is controlled by whoever holds a majority in the House.
“[W]hether you think it’s right or wrong, Republicans are going to exact revenge for a long while over the MTV vote,” he wrote. “[Y]es, it was an internal party squabble. [B]ut the GOP thinks Dems shouldn’t have sided w Gaetz.”
“Expect more of this, GOP sources tell us,” he said.
NEWS — HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP has kicked @RepStenyHoyer out of his Capitol hideaway.
Republicans — McCarthy — are taking revenge for Democrats voting with @mattgaetz to boot @SpeakerMcCarthy from the speakership.
Expect more of this, GOP sources tell us.
Me and…
Was McCarthy a good speaker of the House?— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 4, 2023
whether you think it’s right or wrong, Republicans are going to exact revenge for a long while over the MTV vote. yes, it was an internal party squabble. but the GOP thinks Dems shouldn’t have sided w Gaetz.
remember: the majority controls the Capitol. Rooms, codels, etc. https://t.co/vA1spcmSdl
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 4, 2023
McHenry sent Pelosi literally packing with an order for her to vacate her private office space in the Capitol, Politico first reported.
The action was one of the first he took after he became speaker pro tempore in the aftermath of the vote that removed McCarthy, according to Fox News.
The message was delivered by email, Politico wrote.
“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” the email from the House Administration Committee stated. The room was being reassigned, the email stated, “for speaker office use.”
Politico noted that few House members have hideaway offices in the Capitol itself.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ staff accomplished the move, a representative of Pelosi’s office said.
In a statement to Politico, Pelosi criticized her forced departure as “a sharp departure from tradition,” claiming she had given former Speaker Dennis Hastert “a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished” when she assumed the post.
Pelosi has been in California to attend the funeral for the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
