House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied his caucus to save House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, or to at least prevent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from getting a victory.
But the New York Democrat would not guarantee that his party would save the speaker if Ms. Greene, or someone else, tried to force another vote to oust him.
“[I] haven’t given it a thought,” Mr. Jeffries said.
Most Democrats — there were about 40 dissidents — voted against killing the motion to vacate the chair or voted present, followed Mr. Jeffries’ direction to prevent the House from falling “into further chaos” by voting to kill the motion to vacate the chair or by voting “present.”
Wednesday night’s vote marks yet another instance where Democrats have bailed out the Louisiana Republican, who has struggled to wrangle his rebellious conference since winning the gavel six months ago.
Rep. James McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat, said that stopping a rehash of the chaos that tore through the House last year when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted was the “right thing to do,” but that Democrats’ having Mr. Johnson’s back would not last forever.
“I’m not a cheap date, and this doesn’t mean forever,” Mr. McGovern said. “You know, maybe because we were the adults on Ukraine, and I think we’re showing we’re the adults in trying to prevent chaos from prevailing here, that maybe we get a little respect.”
Mr. Jeffries said that Democrats joined with the GOP to stop the motion to vacate the chair in order to stop Ms. Greene, and noted that he would not regret his decision to keep Mr. Johnson in power.
But he said he expects Republicans to shut down any more dissent that could derail the remaining months of this chaotic session of Congress.
“The only thing we ask of our House Republican colleagues is for traditional Republicans to further isolate the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the GOP, which has visited nothing but chaos and dysfunction on the American people,” he said.