House Republicans are mourning the departures of George Santos and Kevin McCarthy after their failed vote to impeach Mayorkas

• House Republicans narrowly failed to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday.
• That wouldn't have happened if George Santos hadn't been expelled or Kevin McCarthy hadn't resigned.

On Tuesday, House Republicans suffered an embarrassing setback — they narrowly failed to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after 3 Republicans voted against it.

As of now, it appears the vote may eventually be successful: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was absent on Tuesday due to ongoing cancer treatments, and GOP leaders have pledged to bring the measure back when he returns, which could be as soon as next week.

But Tuesday's failed vote was the first time House Republicans have suffered at the hands of their slowly shrinking majority, which has been driven by retirements and expulsions in recent months.

"Hopefully no one dies," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia quipped in November.

Two prominent names who weren't around to vote on Tuesday: former Rep. George Santos of New York and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Santos was expelled by over two-thirds of the chamber in December after the release of a damning report from the House Ethics Committee and exhaustion over his ongoing antics. McCarthy, on the other hand, chose to resign at the end of 2023 after Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida led a group of Republicans to oust him from the speakership.

It didn't take long for the reality of their absence — both men likely would've voted to impeach Mayorkas — to set in.

"I've never missed Santos more. Whoever he is," Gaetz wrote on Twitter, quoting a photo from Santos of the Mayorkas vote tally from inside the House chamber that appeared to be taken by a member of Congress.

And Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida told The Independent that her party should consider whether "expelling George Santos was actually worth it."

Santos himself posted a tirade against the New York Republicans who spearheaded his expulsion, declaring that America is "stuck with Mayorkas for 6 more weeks" due to his own expulsion.

As for McCarthy, opinions seem to differ.

In an appearance on Newsmax, Gaetz described McCarthy's decision to resign after his ouster as an act of "abject selfishness."

"Kevin McCarthy, after being dislodged as speaker, took his marbles and went home," said Gaetz. "He would've been a reliable vote for impeachment, but if he wasn't speaker, he wasn't willing to stick around."

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, on the other hand, said that removing McCarthy in the first place has been an "unmitigated disaster."

"Our majority has shrunk," wrote Massie.