Gimenez v Gaetz: A Fight Over the Motion to Vacate

As the nation witnesses the political fallout of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) removal, U.S. Representatives from the state of Florida – Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) are trading blows on X regarding rules surrounding the motion to vacate.

Rep. Gaetz made history by bringing the motion to vacate to the floor which eventually resulted in Rep. McCarthy’s demise. He believes the rules regarding the motion to vacate should stay in place.

Rep. Gimenez stated that he would not support anyone for Speaker unless the rules have been changed.

“The person who wants my vote for Speaker must commit to reforming the Motion to Vacate,” said Rep. Gimenez in a press release. “The threshold must be raised to 50% of the Republican Conference. The coup against Speaker Kevin McCarthy was despicable and must never happen again. A Speaker cannot govern under constant threat by fringe hostage takers.”

Rep. Gaetz responded to this position in a post of his own:

So the way moderates want to punish me is by making it harder to remove Speaker Jordan or Speaker Scalise? OH NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!” said Gaetz.

Rep. Gimenez replied, “This isn’t a kindergarten classroom.”

“Matt, this isn’t a kindergarten classroom. No one gets punished around here. It’s about doing what’s right. I’m glad to know that you’ll be on board with increasing the threshold to 50%!” stated Gimenez.

For the record, it does not appear that Rep. Gaetz is in favor of increasing the threshold to 50%.

Recently, Gimenez described Gaetz as “Joe Biden’s favorite Republican.”

When asked if he supported expelling Rep. Gaetz, as some Republicans seek to do, Rep. Gimenez answered that he would look at the charges first, as "expelling a member of the House is a very serious concern."

"And I have serious disagreements with Mr. Gaetz. I think that he is actually Joe Biden's favorite Republican because he causes a lot of confusion and dissension inside the Party itself. If it were not for Matt Gaetz, we would have had a funding resolution that actually controlled the border and would have had close to 10% cuts in government, but because of Matt Gaetz, we did not get either of those," said Rep. Gimenez.

Currently, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Steve Scalise (R-LA) are the candidates to replace former Speaker McCarthy.