House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled that Democrats would not step in to save Speaker Mike Johnson from a potential ouster attempt, paving the way for a tumultuous fight for the gavel.
Asked on Thursday if his caucus would consider voting for Johnson’s upcoming speakership bid if he worked to prevent an impending government shutdown, Jeffries answered “no.”
Come January, the GOP will hold one of the slimmest House majorities of all time. Johnson’s party won the chamber by a 5-seat margin. Three of those Republican seats will be empty at the beginning of the next House session, as Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Waltz have resigned to serve in President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet. Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned on the belief that he would serve in Trump's Cabinet and has shared that he has no plans to return after his nomination fell to pieces.
Johnson's willingness to reach across the aisle to avoid a government shutdown has angered many hardliners in his party. Members of the MAGA-affiliated House Freedom Caucus have warned Johnson they wouldn’t support the deal on the table and threatened consequences for any deal made with Democrats. Rep Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said on Wednesday that he planned to oppose Johnson if he solved the shutdown.
“I think it’s shameful that Mike Johnson would do this after we received a mandate in the election," he shared with a local outlet. "I know it’s a lame-duck session, but still, there’s no reason for us to capitulate when on Jan. 20, Trump’s going to be President, and on Jan. 3, we have the majority in the Senate.”
If Johnson can't whip together support for his speakership, his time at the helm will have been remarkably short. A similar revolt from the right flank of the House GOP ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this year in the first successful motion to vacate the speakership in American history.
Johnson’s only hope might be the Democrats, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, argued that they should watch him squirm a little.
“When they swear in in January… there’s gonna be fewer Republicans than we had in the 118th [Congress],” Crockett said in an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday night. “There is no fixing this without the Democrats. We’ve seen this over and over. I'm gonna just sit back and sip my tea and wait on them to figure it out.”
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