California independent Rep. Kevin Kiley has been stripped of his House committee assignments after formally exiting the Republican Party, a move that automatically vacated his seats under chamber rules.
The change was announced on the House floor when the clerk read letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from the chairs of the Education and Workforce, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Judiciary committees. The letters stated that Kiley’s membership on those panels had been vacated under House rules.
The notices came from Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, were relayed through House Republican leadership.
The move follows Kiley’s announcement last week that he was leaving the GOP effective immediately and would serve as an independent while continuing to caucus with Republicans.
Kiley said at the time that he wanted to remain an “independent voice” for his constituents and made clear that he would have no party affiliation “on the ballot or as an officeholder.”
House rules make the committee shake-up largely automatic when a lawmaker abandons a party label. Under Rule X, committee assignments are tied to party membership, meaning a member who switches parties or becomes an independent loses existing assignments unless reappointed under a new arrangement.
Kiley acknowledged the consequence before the removal became official, telling reporters that once a member disaffiliates from a party, committee memberships automatically terminate and must be restored through a new appointment process.
Kiley said that he plans to caucus with House Republicans and seek to regain committee seats despite no longer being a registered Republican.
That could leave room for a negotiated path back to the panels, but it also underscores the unusual political balancing act he is attempting as he tries to distance himself from formal party branding without fully severing ties to GOP leadership in Washington.
His departure from the party further tightened Johnson’s already narrow House margin. After Kiley’s switch, the chamber stood at 217 Republicans, 214 Democrats and one independent, with several vacancies still leaving little room for defections on close votes.
Kiley’s decision came after California’s redistricting battle reshaped his political map and pushed him toward a newly drawn, Democratic-leaning 6th Congressional District centered around the Sacramento area.
He has filed to run for reelection without a party preference, making his break with the GOP as much an electoral calculation as a statement against what he called “hyperpartisanship.”
Before the change, Kiley had served on the House Education and Workforce Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, assignments that gave the second-term congressman a foothold on issues ranging from labor and schools to federal courts, roads and water policy.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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