What Tim Burchett's vote to oust McCarthy as speaker could mean for his political future

As U.S. House of Representatives leadership changes, it's unclear how Rep. Tim Burchett's vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker might affect the Knoxville Republican's political future. But experts say he shouldn't be too worried.

Burchett voted with just seven other House Republicans on Oct. 4 in the unprecedented removal of their party's own speaker. Burchett told Knox News he was voting with his conscience, and that the people of his district were tired of national debt, for which he blamed leadership.

He said he'd cooperate with the party on its choice for a new speaker, in contrast with his earlier vote with Democrats.

House Republicans nominated Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., Oct. 11, but Scalise dropped out of the race the next day after failing to get enough support from party holdouts. Burchett wasn't one of them; he told reporters that he would "go with" the majority of his party.

“I’m just looking forward to having a new speaker and some fiscal sanity in the room," he said.

How does Burchett's future look after McCarthy ouster vote?

Burchett sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Accountability committees. He's known for being outspoken about accountability and transparency regarding UFOs.

His seat representing Tennessee's 2nd District is safe, according to experts. Burchett was elected in 2018 with over 65% of the vote and again in 2022 with over 67%. Nathan Kelly, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, said that the Republican Party is unlikely to punish Burchett, who was not at the center of the "revolt" against McCarthy. They're more likely to go after someone like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

Kelly said that Burchett's vote against McCarthy might cause him to have a "diminished role here and there" that could play out via fewer invitations to events and less face-time within the party.

"But it's not like Burchett views himself as a Washington insider who values the inside the Beltway stuff anyway," Kelly said.

And Burchett has made his disinterest in D.C. drama clear. When he announced his decision to vote with Democrats and Republican dissenters to remove McCarthy, he said McCarthy was his friend but he needed to do what was best for the American people.

Former U.S. Representative John “Jimmy” Duncan Jr., who served the 2nd District for 30 years before Burchett, told Knox News Oct. 11 he didn't think the Republican Party would dwell on the vote "except for a small group of people."

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News Oct. 3 that the group of eight were "traitors."

"All eight of them should, in fact, be primaried. They should all be driven out of public life," Gingrich said.

Duncan, who remains influential in the second district, said one congressman from Alabama reached out to him about a potential primary challenger for Burchett. Duncan said he wouldn't get involved in the primary, and referred to a time when he thought he was "ruined" because of his 2002 vote against going to war with Iraq.

"That was a very unpopular vote, but very slowly it became one of the more popular votes (of my career)," said Duncan, who served for 16 years after that vote.

As for committee assignments in general, Kelly said the House is in "totally uncharted territory."

Typically, members are assigned to serve on committees at the start of each congressional session and can be removed at any time through a resolution on the House floor. Kelly said that while an entire rearrangement of current committee appointments isn't likely, there could be some "tweaks," but Burchett won't be the target.

"Gaetz is pretty clearly a pariah in the Republican caucus right now. He could face some more serious consequences," Kelly said.

Correction. An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Iran rather than Iraq, and cited the wrong committee for which Burchett is the vice chair. He is the vice chair of the Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia within the foreign affairs committee. We regret the errors.

Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. She can be reached at allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com or on X: @alliefeinberg.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tim Burchett political future after House speaker ouster vote