WASHINGTON — A handful of moderate Democrats say they would be willing to save the new Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, if hardline conservatives move to oust him from power as they did to his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.
“Yes, we would back him,” said one senior moderate House Democrat who has been speaking with colleagues in his party.
“I probably would [support Johnson]. We can’t do another three-week standstill. As it is, we’ve got nothing done in the 118th Congress,” said another moderate Democratic lawmaker who is facing a tough re-election bid in November. “Look, he’s not my favorite person in the world but, on the other hand, it’s a terrible and tough job in this Congress."
“I would be very surprised if there aren’t a number of Democrats who would support Johnson" if conservatives try to force a vote to oust him as speaker "because I think we’re so tired of this,” the Democrat added. “As a 'frontliner,' I wouldn’t want to be accused by people of slowing things down.”
It’s the opposite approach to how Democrats handled the McCarthy situation last fall. After a closed-door debate on Oct. 3, all Democrats decided to join eight conservatives in a dramatic vote to oust McCarthy, R-Calif., from the speakership — the first time in history that House lawmakers had taken the step to remove a speaker in the middle of a congressional term.
The anonymous pledge of support from moderate Democrats means that Johnson’s speakership is on much firmer footing than previously known, despite fresh threats from far-right rabble-rousers furious over the $1.59 trillion topline spending deal that the Louisiana Republican cut with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
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