“When you shake my hand”, nine moments from Mace's McCarthy-ouster presser
A supercut of nine verbatim moments from Rep. Nancy Mace's press conference outside the Capitol on October 3, 2023, the day the House voted 216-210 to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the first Speaker in U.S. history ousted by a motion to vacate. From her opening shot on broken promises to the chaos she warned McCarthy would leave behind.
On October 3, 2023, the U.S. House voted 216-210 to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the first time in American history a Speaker was removed by a motion to vacate. Rep. Nancy Mace was one of eight Republicans who joined every voting Democrat to oust him, alongside Matt Gaetz (who filed the motion), Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Bob Good and Matt Rosendale.
Minutes after the vote, Mace worked the press gaggle on the Capitol steps and laid out her case. Her throughline was broken promises: she said McCarthy had failed to deliver the budget and the twelve separate appropriations bills Republicans were promised, and that commitments to her on women's issues, a rape-kit bill she worked on all year, greater access to birth control, never moved. “When you shake my hand and you make a promise and you don't keep it,” she said, “there are consequences to those actions.”
This supercut stitches nine verbatim moments from that one presser, each cut from the official C-SPAN feed and captioned word-for-word:
- “When you shake my hand and you make a promise and you don't keep it, there are consequences to those actions.”, her opening, and the line that named the clip.
- “I've made deals with Kevin McCarthy … that he has not kept to help women in this country, and we have done nothing for them.”, the broken deals she lays at the Speaker's feet.
- “As a survivor of rape, and I worked all year on a rape kit bill that hasn't seen the time of day.”, the specific promise she says died in committee.
- “If you promise women you're gonna help them, then you damn well better do it.”, the line escalating from disappointment to anger.
- “So as a fiscal conservative, I'm angry. As a woman, I am deeply frustrated.”, how she described herself that afternoon.
- “The Speaker told Democrats one thing and Republicans another.”, her charge that McCarthy spoke out of both sides.
- “It's about trust. And don't make promises you can't keep, and don't lie to me.”, her bottom line on leadership.
- “If he were to continue to be speaker, there would be chaos that would continue, because he's not been honest with either party.”, her stated justification for the vote.
- “The speaker decided to call my staff yesterday rather than call me. I'm right here. I've always been here. He has my number. He knows how to get a hold of it.”, the personal shot, on McCarthy bypassing her directly.
McCarthy disputed her account. He told reporters that Mace's own chief of staff had told him he had “kept your word 100%,” and said, “I can't sit there and write your entire bill.”
The fallout outlasted the speech. McCarthy's removal opened a 22-day vacancy in the Speaker's chair, the longest it had sat empty since 1962. Patrick McHenry served as Speaker pro tempore while Republicans cycled through nominees: Steve Scalise won the nomination on October 11 and withdrew a day later; Jim Jordan was nominated and lost three floor votes; Tom Emmer won the nomination on October 24 and withdrew within hours. The House did not seat a new Speaker, Mike Johnson, until October 25.
The footage is the C-SPAN public-affairs feed (public domain).
Sources & related coverage: C-SPAN, the full gaggle · Roll Call, first Speaker in history ousted · The Hill, the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy · Washington Examiner, Mace defends her vote; McCarthy's rebuttal · Axios, 22 days of stalemate end with Johnson