In a historic vote, 163 Democrats voted to save Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson from a move to push him out by an ultra-right conservative who believes he capitulated to the left.
The House voted 359-43 to table a motion by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to vacate the chair, which would have stripped Mr. Johnson of the speaker’s gavel and forced the chamber to vote for a new speaker.
Ten Republicans voted with Ms. Greene to oust Mr. Johnson, among them Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
After the vote, Mr. Johnson called the motion “misguided,” and he said he appreciated the show of confidence from the 196 Republicans, the vast majority of the conference, who voted to table it.
“Hopefully this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined 118th Congress,” Mr. Johnson said. “It’s regrettable. It’s not who we are as Americans. We’re better than that.”
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana was elected speaker by House Republicans a little more than six months ago and has frustrated some members of the GOP conference by ushering through legislation that left out conservative priorities, such as lowering government spending, reining in warrantless government surveillance and stopping rampant illegal immigration at the southern border.
One top Democrat, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, said Democrats voted for Mr. Johnson to prevent “chaos from prevailing.” He said he thinks Ms. Greene is “nuts.”
In her lengthy floor motion to oust him, Ms. Greene denounced Mr. Johnson’s explanation that the GOP’s very small majority and divided government required passing bipartisan bills.
“Excuses like this,” the Georgia Republican said, “are pathetic, weak and unacceptable. Even with our razor-thin Republican majority, we could have at least secured the border with it being the number one issue in the country and the issue that is actually causing Biden to trail President Trump in poll after poll.”
The motion to push out Mr. Johnson followed two days of meetings among Mr. Johnson, Ms. Greene and Mr. Massie. The disgruntled duo handed Mr. Johnson a list of demands that included a pledge to keep legislation off the floor unless a majority of the Republican conference supported it. They also wanted Mr. Johnson to commit to legislation that would slash federal funding by 1% and cut money for the special counsel prosecutions of former President Donald Trump
The motion to push out Mr. Johnson was quickly tabled in a five-minute vote. At the gavel, Ms. Greene sent out a fundraising email.
She brought up the motion despite intense pressure from the Republican National Committee and Mr. Trump and his campaign team, who told her the effort could damage the party ahead of the election.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump called on Republicans to back Mr. Johnson while praising Ms. Greene, a staunch ally, for her “spirit” and “fight.”
He lauded Mr. Johnson as “a good man who is trying very hard,” and said, like some conservatives, he also wished some things had been done differently.
“We’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time … if we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.
Mr. Johnson has defended his short tenure. He recently told The Washington Times he was seeking incremental wins for the party until the GOP gains control of both Congress and the White House in the 2024 election.
He met with Ms. Greene this week at her request.
Ms. Greene’s motion to push out Mr. Johnson was opposed by most Republicans and many of them are frustrated with her threats to the speaker.
Mr. Johnson won the job after a band of eight conservatives voted with all Democrats to eject Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, casting the GOP-led chamber into weeks of chaos.
Few in the Republican conference want to repeat it.
“This motion is not going to do one thing to make America stronger,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, South Dakota Republican. “She’s engaged in a failing act of political theater.”
Democrats agreed to help Mr. Johnson stave off the coup after he pushed through a foreign aid package that provided long-sought funding for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia. The package did not include money for U.S. border security, which would have rankled Democrats.
“From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said in an April 30 announcement that some in his party would vote against Ms. Greene’s motion.