'We’ll protect him': Dems say they’ll side with Johnson after MTG files motion to vacate

22 March 2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) could be saved from the fate that befell his predecessor due to a very unlikely ally: House Democrats.

Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and some in the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus are seeking to oust Speaker Johnson after just five months on the job due to his efforts to work with Democrats in order to stave off a government shutdown. She's stated that she would officially put her motion to vacate on the floor if Johnson holds a vote on sending aid to Ukraine. But according to a recent report in Axios, some Democrats may be willing to keep the gavel in Johnson's hands in order to prevent someone from Greene's faction becoming the next speaker.

"I think either way we'll protect him," one unnamed House Democrat told the outlet.

In October, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) became the first speaker to be stripped of the gavel via a motion to vacate by members of his own party after he worked with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling. That resulted in a chaotic, three-week long paralysis of the lower chamber of Congress while Republicans squabbled over who would be the next speaker. Johnson emerged from the fray as the unanimous choice only after House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) all tried and failed to win the backing of their party.

"I'm not going to let this go to a Congress shutdown, so if my vote mattered, I would vote against the [motion to vacate]," another House Democrat speaking anonymously told Axios.

And while some Democrats expressed their personal policy disagreements with Johnson, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) said the decision to protect Johnson would be out of a desire to prevent a Republican in the mold of Greene from becoming second in line to the presidency. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) also said he would vote to keep Johnson in his current position.

"I do not support Speaker Johnson but I will never stand by and let MTG to[sic] take over the people’s House," he said.

House Republicans may not be able to elect another Republican speaker should they oust Johnson. After the Friday announcement that Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) would be resigning from office in April, Johnson can now only afford one defection from his party on any vote, assuming full attendance. Should House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) get two Republicans to join him and all Democrats on the next speaker ballot, he could obtain the gavel despite Republicans having the majority.

The soonest a motion to vacate would come to the floor would be in roughly two weeks, as Congress is about to gavel out for recess. The current meeting of Congress — with Republicans retaking the majority for the first time since they lost 40 seats in the 2018 midterms — has been regarded as one of the least productive in history.

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