Data: Federal Election Commission; Chart: Axios Visuals
The eight House Republicanswho voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker received a combined $150,000 from his leadership PAC, the Majority Committee, in recent election cycles.
Why it matters: McCarthy's painstaking efforts to unite the GOP conference around him — including through the usual means of political wheel-greasing — ultimately proved insufficient.
"A lot of them I helped get elected, so I probably should've picked somebody else," McCarthy joked last night when asked if wishes he had done anything differently.
"When I was running for speaker, I couldn't get involved in primaries. But I told the conference, I'm a free agent now, aren't I?" he said with a smile. "I think I'm pretty good at electing people."
The intrigue: Several of the rebels who originally opposed McCarthy in January — including Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) — voted not to oust him after receiving donations from his political operation.