WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his allies beat back a dramatic effort by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust him from power on Wednesday, ending — for now — months of threats against his speakership.
The lopsided vote to “table” or kill Greene’s motion to vacate the speaker’s chair was 359-43. Just 10 Republicans voted with Greene, seven Democrats voted present.
There were 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats who voted to kill Greene’s motion; along with the 11 Republicans, 32 Democrats voted to move forward with her motion to oust Johnson.
“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” Johnson said after the vote in Statuary Hall, just off the House floor. “Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress. It’s regrettable. It’s not who we are as Americans, and we’re better than this. We need to get beyond it.”
The vote came after weeks of threats from Greene to force the issue and after dragging her feet as it became clear she didn’t have enough support to remove the speaker. Unlike last year’s successful vote to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., many Democrats had made clear they would vote to save the speaker, especially after Johnson helped stave off a government shutdown, pushed through the renewal of a critical FISA spy tool and passed billions of dollars in foreign aid for Ukraine after months of delays.
During the last vote series of the week, Greene stood on the floor and announced she was filing a privileged motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. She was promptly booed by colleagues as she formally announced the effort.
“This is the ‘uniparty’ for the American people watching,” she said in response to the boos, pointing with both hands at Republicans and Democrats in the chamber.
Johnson’s mentor and top ally, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., moved immediately to “table” or “kill Greene’s vacate motion. The speaker’s GOP allies were in a strong position to beat back Greene’s efforts given that Democratic leaders said on April 30 that their rank-and-file members would help dismiss Greene’s motion to vacate the speaker’s chair.
“Amid this circus, House Democrats have been the adults in the room,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., a moderate who is running for governor. “We have too much work to do to waste time on petty political games.”
That saves Johnson’s job at least temporarily, though the fact that Democrats cast votes to keep him in power is sure to infuriate conservative activists and outside groups. And nothing would prevent Greene or any other conservative foe from forcing another vote on Johnson’s fate down the road.
The 10 other Republicans who voted with Greene against tabling the motion were Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio; Alex Mooney, R-W.Va.; Barry Moore, R-Ala; Victoria Spartz, R-Ind.; Chip Roy, R-Texas; Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; Eli Crane, R-Ariz.; Eric Burlison, R-Mo.; and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
However, it is not clear all of them would have voted on a resolution to oust Johnson had the motion to table failed; Roy said he was undecided.
While passionate about toppling Johnson, her campaign never really gained momentum among her colleagues. Conservative Reps. Massie and Gosar were the only co-sponsors on her vacate resolution. And under normal circumstances, those three GOP votes would have been enough to depose Johnson given the GOP’s razor-thin majority and if all Democrats voted to remove him.
But members of both parties are still smarting from the paralysis that took over the House for three weeks last fall after Johnson’s predecessor, McCarthy, became the first speaker to be ousted from his job in the middle of the congressional term. Greene, a staunch McCarthy ally, vehemently opposed ousting McCarthy and ultimately voted no.
The idea of Democrats stepping in to save Johnson began bubbling up over the past several months, with members publicly and privately saying they would vote against Greene’s effort in favor of governing.
In her resolution, and on the House floor, Greene quoted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., saying in a recent CBS “60 Minutes” interview: “Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done. Those are just the facts.”
Democrats cheered as she quoted their leader.
“Speaker Johnson’s tenure is defined by one self-serving characteristic,” Greene said on the floor prior to the vote. “When given a choice between advancing Republican priorities or allied with the Democrats to preserve his own personal power, Johnson regularly chooses to ally himself with Democrats.”
Although he signed on to Greene’s motion to vacate, Massie repeatedly said he didn’t want to force a vote to oust him and cause similar chaos, instead pressing Johnson to resign voluntarily.
Lawmakers, including many conservatives, have said they don’t want a repeat of the fall speaker fight. In an interview with NBC News last weekend, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley urged party unity when asked about Greene’s threat to force a vote to oust Johnson, arguing that the GOP would not be able to flip the Senate and expand their House majority if the party is divided.
“We need to make sure that all of the Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle, and they do, and we need to make sure that we are on the same page as we’re moving forward,” Whatley said days before the vote.
Johnson allies lashed out at Greene as she filed her motion. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus and no relation to the speaker, ran to cameras on the steps of the Capitol to bash her.
“We know that this motion is not going to do one thing to make America stronger. It’s not going to do one thing to deliver a conservative victory,” he said. “She is engaged in a failing act of political theater. … We’re going to do what adults do; we’re going to ignore the tantrums and instead work to actually govern this country.”
Asked if Greene, known as MTG, should be punished for her actions, moderate Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., said, “There should be accountability for those who continue to make this about themselves.”
“Lies and dishonesty are a hell of a lot louder than truth and earnestness,” he said. “I will leave to you to figure out which side of that equation she is on.”
After the House voted to table, Trump wrote on his social media platform, “I absolutely love Marjorie Taylor Greene,” but said he prefers to see party unity, adding “it is my request” that Republicans vote to table her motion.
In the end, Trump had no impact on the vote — it was already finished by the time he published his post.
