Although Alabama’s Republican delegation in the House of Representatives stood behind Kevin McCarthy, the California congressman was removed as speaker after eight Republicans joined the chamber’s Democrats to oust him Tuesday.

McCarthy’s deal with Democrats that avoided a government shutdown over the weekend sealed his fate among a group of renegade House Republicans. The group is headed by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who set McCarthy’s ouster in motion.

All six of Alabama’s GOP House members voted to keep McCarthy in the speaker’s chair, but the California congressman did not survive the 216-210 vote to remove him.

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, suggested he supported McCarthy as speaker because he believed the “infighting” among Republicans was a distraction from the party’s goals on government funding:

Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, had the same rationale.

“I voted against removing Speaker McCarthy because this is nothing more than a distraction from the real issues that matter to Americans,” he tweeted. “We need to focus on securing the border, cutting wasteful government spending, countering the Biden admin, and stopping the woke agenda.”

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, was among the 208 Democrats to vote to remove McCarthy.

She did not immediately comment on the vote.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.