NEWSWEEK
Mike Johnson may not be able to rely on the support of Democrats to save him from being ousted as Speaker of the House, according to tweeted comments by three representatives.
The Louisiana Republican has been hit with a backlash within his own party during the six months of his tenure, and this week, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has said she will introduce a motion to vacate him next week.
This follows Greene’s introduction of an unprivileged motion to vacate in March after Johnson passed a $1.2 trillion spending package, with Democratic support, to fund the government.
Due to the Republicans‘ slim majority in the House, Johnson can afford only three detractors from his own party without relying on Democrats to keep him in position. There are 217 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 212 Democrats.
So far, only two other Republicans have come out in support of Greene, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, and the Democratic leadership has said it is against the vote. Therefore, it appears Greene’s vote will fail unless more Republicans and Democrats come out in support of it.
However, according to CNN reporter Manu Raju, some Democrats have voiced their opposition to the Speaker.
Newsweek contacted Johnson’s office by email to comment on this story.
Raju relayed the following quotes in a post to X, formerly Twitter relaying Democrats’ opinions about the matter: “[Robert] Garcia: ‘I certainly will not be voting to support Johnson.’
[Jamaal] Bowman : ‘Hakeem Jeffries should be speaker.’
[Pramila] Jayapal: ‘I think that we have to be clear that we can’t continue to do this every time they want to vacate the speaker.’”
MTG’s push to oust Mike Johnson prompting sharp pushback among many Rs.
Molinaro: “This is all about wanting more attention”
Bacon: “98% of us find it disgusting.”
McCormick: “It’s divisive inside of our conference.”
Ogles: “I think this is a distraction.”
Van Orden:… pic.twitter.com/5Fd5Cj4joi
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 2, 2024
Bowman is a New York representative while Jayapal represents an area in Washington and Garcia represents California.
Raju also predicts that not all Republicans will support the ouster. He reported that Illinois Rep. Don Bacon called it “disgusting!” and Tennessee politician Andy Ogles called it “a distraction.”
He also reported that some Democrats have praised Johnson for supporting bipartisan efforts to fund foreign aid.
California Democrat Pete Aguilar told Raju: “I disagree with Speaker Johnson in a number of ways but he lived up to his commitments to put this bill on the floor.”
Meanwhile, the Democrat leadership issued a statement indicating they would vote to table, or kill, Greene’s motion to vacate if it came up for a vote.
“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” the leaders said. “We will vote to table Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate the chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat indicated he would support Johnson. He wrote in a post to X: “I applaud Leader Jeffries’s decision to support Speaker Johnson against extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene. By minimizing the “chaos caucus,” the House can do more things on a bipartisan basis.”
