by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
House Democratic leaders say they’re prepared to shield Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a potential conservative coup within his own ranks, an unprecedented vow that inflamed one of his most outspoken GOP critics Tuesday.
“If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) shot back in a post on the social platform X. “Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display.”
I’m about to give them their coming out party!” Greene wrote.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), in a statement joined by his leadership colleagues, said Greene “will not succeed.”
Greene has threatened for more than a month to use House GOP rules and a motion to vacate as leverage to oust Johnson for what she sees as betrayal of conservatives’ agenda. Although she is treating Democrats’ backing to keep Johnson in place as the last straw on her list of grievances about the Speaker’s “slimy” deals with the minority, she has thus far not forced a vote on his removal.
The Georgia firebrand is working to maximize her public clout but is aware that many of her GOP colleagues, frustrated by inaction and discord, are reluctant to remove another Speaker. They worry it would trigger new leadership chaos six months ahead of elections. Republicans have the slimmest of slim House majorities and are battling to expand their numbers next year.
Johnson has recruited the most potent Republican backer available to him: former President Trump, who treats Greene as an ally but recently showered the Speaker with praise following a meeting at Mar-a-Lago. “He’s doing a really good job under very tough circumstances,” Trump said last month, referring to Republicans’ narrow majority in the House.
- The New York Times: Republicans, eager to call attention to divisions among Democrats, plan additional hearings with top university administrators to focus on campus protests. They suggest they could withhold millions of federal dollars from universities that fail to keep Jewish students safe.
- The Hill: The Senate is braced for fights over reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration.