Previously Obscure Rule Could Decide Next Speaker

Politico: “Before Tuesday, the so-called motion to vacate hadn’t been used in 113 years… It won’t take as long for the next deployment now that Gaetz has used it against McCarthy: ‘In case we haven’t noticed, we have a lot of members who like the attention.'”

“But that push for change is running into the harsh reality that any candidate for speaker is going to need support from the party’s right flank — and those members are unlikely to relinquish the power that allows one back-bencher to force a vote on firing the top leader. While a few Democrats say they’re willing to deliver the votes needed to weaken the motion to vacate, their cooperation could instead doom the effort entirely within a GOP that has no appetite for bipartisanship.”