Dallas gala for House GOP postponed after headliner Kevin McCarthy deposed as speaker

WASHINGTON — The House Republicans’ campaign arm postponed a fundraising gala in Dallas set for Oct. 12 after its headliner, Kevin McCarthy, was abruptly deposed as speaker of the House.

A spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Delanie Bomar, confirmed the delay Saturday.

An invitation for the now-postponed NRCC fundraising gala in Dallas featuring Kevin McCarthy.
An invitation for the now-postponed NRCC fundraising gala in Dallas featuring Kevin McCarthy.(NRCC)
Tickets to the NRCC’s annual fall dinner started at $2,500, with packages up to $50,000 that included eight dinner tickets plus a photo opportunity with McCarthy. Events in Washington moved so swiftly that the gala website had not yet been updated Saturday afternoon.

“We have decided to postpone this dinner. … Our focus next week needs to be the election of our next Speaker and the legislative work before us,” Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the NRCC chairman, wrote colleagues in a letter obtained by The Hill.

On Tuesday, a group of eight hard-right conservatives led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., engineered McCarthy’s ouster over complaints he gave too much ground to Democrats in a deal to stave off a government shutdown for 45 days.

The House has been operating with an acting speaker since the 216-210 ouster vote. Without an elected speaker, most legislative business is precluded.

McCarthy won’t seek to reclaim the gavel and has hinted he may resign from Congress before his term ends in 15 months.

The GOP caucus will huddle Tuesday to discuss successors. Most of the 25 Texans in the House have yet to declare a preference. Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio are the leading contenders.

The election of a new speaker is expected Wednesday.

That’s when NRCC donors were to converge in Dallas for two days of festivities starting with a “Welcome to the Majority Concert” at The Rustic featuring the Triple Nickel Band.

Thursday’s schedule included breakfast and, for those who cut checks of at least $25,000, stops at a Grapevine gun range and the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

The gala was set for the Thompson Dallas Hotel that night.

With a razor thin 221-212 margin, Republicans can afford only four defections when Democrats vote as a bloc, as they did on McCarthy’s ouster.

The NRCC’s mission is to expand the cushion. The Dallas event is part of the plan.

“This Gala is a high priority for the NRCC and all funds raised directly support efforts to grow our House Republican majority,” Hudson told colleagues. “That mission is as important as ever, and … we are working diligently to have a new date for you in the near future.”

With just nine months in charge of the House, McCarthy’s tenure was the third-shortest of any speaker in U.S. history. One of those predecessors was elected to fill the job in 1869 for a single day when a speaker resigned to take office as vice president. The other died of tuberculosis in 1876 after 258 days in office.

No other speaker has been ousted through a “motion to vacate,” which hadn’t even been invoked since 1910. (Speaker Joseph Cannon, R-Ill., survived that uprising.)

In January, McCarthy agreed to let even a single lawmaker force a snap vote on his removal — a concession to 20 or so holdouts, including Gaetz, who were blocking his election as speaker.