If Speaker Mike Johnson retains his job, it’ll be Democrats who save him. Like his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, the Louisiana conservative is going through an tried ouster after he defied Republican hard-liners by counting on Democratic assist to go a funding invoice—$61 billion for Ukraine, on this case—they hated.
Democrats helped boot McCarthy six months in the past, however now a number of of them say they’ll rescue Johnson. Simply three Republicans have signed on to the trouble to depose Johnson, so the speaker may be capable of survive with solely a small Democratic contingent backing him. On the floor, the willingness of any Democrat to face with Johnson may appear curious; he’s each extra conservative than McCarthy and extra loyal to Donald Trump. So why are some Democrats who voted to finish McCarthy’s speakership planning to salvage Johnson’s?
Consultant Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington State is one among them. She was a 34-year-old co-owner of an auto-repair store when she narrowly flipped a district in 2022 that had been held by a six-term Republican. In Congress, she co-chairs the centrist Blue Canine Coalition and just lately helped write the help package deal that the Home accredited in a collection of bipartisan votes on Saturday, which included long-stalled cash for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In an interview someday earlier than the vote, Gluesenkamp Perez drew a pointy distinction between McCarthy (a “traditional swimsuit calculating his subsequent development”) and Johnson (“a person of religion”).
“I don’t suppose my constituents wished to see me save Kevin McCarthy. I believe they noticed lots of hair gel,” Gluesenkamp Perez informed me. “I believe they see Mike Johnson as totally different. I believe they need me to avoid wasting him. They’re bored with chaos, no matter celebration.”
Final month, Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who ardently opposes sending extra help to Ukraine, launched a movement to vacate the speaker—the identical procedural maneuver that Consultant Matt Gaetz of Florida deployed in October to take away McCarthy. The Home is on recess this week, and Greene has vowed to carry the movement to a vote after lawmakers return if Johnson doesn’t resign (which he has insisted he gained’t do).
Consultant Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Home minority chief, hasn’t mentioned whether or not he would urge Democrats to avoid wasting Johnson. Some within the celebration first need to extract further concessions from the speaker within the intently divided Home. However Gluesenkamp Perez isn’t ready for a directive from her management. She informed me that Johnson has already earned her vote. “Placing this package deal ahead is sufficient to exhibit for me that he’s price saving,” she mentioned.
Our dialog has been calmly edited for size and readability.
Russell Berman: If Marjorie Taylor Greene forces a vote on a movement to vacate, would you vote to avoid wasting Speaker Johnson?
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: I cannot be voting to take away Mike Johnson.
Berman: Do you suppose Democrats ought to attempt to pressure Johnson into negotiations and extract extra concessions from him earlier than agreeing to avoid wasting him?
Gluesenkamp Perez: I don’t suppose my group is invested in procedural guidelines and construction. I believe my group cares about an America that exerts affect in assist of democracies, and placing this package deal ahead is sufficient to exhibit for me that he’s price saving.
I believe Mike Johnson is a person of religion. I believe he’s guided by that religion. I’m additionally a girl of religion. And I perceive and I respect that. The Southern Baptist Conference put out a letter the place they mentioned that they supported funding for Ukraine help. After that, Mike Johnson [a Southern Baptist] got here out in assist of transferring the military-aid package deal ahead. I don’t suppose that could be a coincidence. I see a man that’s guided by conscience, guided by his religion.
I don’t agree with Mike on many, many points, however I didn’t see that stage of conviction in Kevin. He had this kind of unctuous picture. The rationale that Kevin misplaced his job was that he voted to fund the federal government. That’s an extremely low bar. Funding the federal government will not be displaying braveness. That’s simply our job. Supporting our allies, supporting our values—that’s braveness. And that is one thing that resonates far more strongly in my group.
Berman: Do you suppose your constituents see this example in a different way from final fall with McCarthy?
Gluesenkamp Perez: It’s kind of inside baseball versus real-life coverage. Funding the federal government—as I mentioned, that’s the job. I don’t suppose my constituents wished to see me save Kevin McCarthy. I believe they noticed lots of hair gel. I believe they see Mike Johnson as totally different. He has one of many lowest web wealths for a member of Congress. I believe he really likes his household. I believe they need me to avoid wasting him. They’re bored with chaos, no matter celebration.
I had not been to D.C. since ninth grade earlier than I bought this job. I used to be equally thrown into this very totally different world with very totally different duties, and I empathize with the non-public scenario he’s in. He was not anticipating to be speaker seven months in the past. And swiftly he’s thrust into this huge job, and he’s figuring it out as he goes. To be clear, I believe he’s made errors alongside the way in which. However I empathize with him in a manner I couldn’t with Kevin McCarthy, who was simply this traditional swimsuit calculating his subsequent development as a politician.
Berman: It sounds such as you suppose he’s been a greater speaker than McCarthy.
Gluesenkamp Perez: I don’t suppose Kevin would ever have put ahead this package deal. And Mike has gone out on a limb to do it, as a result of it displays his values.
Berman: Supporters of Ukraine help—each Republican and Democratic—have been pushing Johnson to place one thing like this package deal on the ground for months, and the delay has come at a major value to Ukrainian lives and territory. How a lot do you maintain him chargeable for not doing this a lot earlier?
Gluesenkamp Perez: Within the cloakroom and across the Hill, there’s been a debate about whether or not Mike Johnson is Chamberlain or Churchill. I believe, ultimately, he’s manifesting the Churchill quote, “Individuals will all the time do the fitting factor after they’ve exhausted each different choice.”
Berman: Johnson is far more ideologically conservative than McCarthy was, significantly on social points. How would you reply to individuals who would say that Johnson is definitely extra harmful if you happen to’re a Democrat or progressive, who would ask why you threw out the mainstream Republican however saved somebody they contemplate to be a zealot?
Gluesenkamp Perez: I’m fairly assured that my district sees a distinction between a drive for energy and somebody that’s doing his greatest. I’m not involved that they’re going to confuse my values in a vote to assist Mike and with my values in strolling away from a machine that Kevin McCarthy represents.
