Democrats Say They Didn’t ‘Save Mike Johnson’

Some progressives were ready to let the speaker lose his gavel. But most Democrats were eager to deny Marjorie Taylor Greene a win.

Hakeem Jeffries, Mike Johnson
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and most other Democrats voted to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Democrats insisted after helping to keep Mike Johnson as speaker on Tuesday that it wasn’t about protecting him. It was about vanquishing their shared enemy: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“We did not save Mike Johnson,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark told NOTUS. “We’re saying no to Marjorie Taylor Greene and her extremism. She’s a chaos agent, and it is time to end the pro-Putin caucus obstruction on the issue of Ukraine aid.”

The question of saving Johnson has been a no-brainer for House Democratic leadership ever since Greene first threatened to trigger a Johnson ouster over foreign aid. When she announced her motion to vacate, she condemned Johnson and called Congress a “uniparty,” claiming that Johnson had betrayed Republican ideals by passing bills with Democratic support.