Matt Gaetz is privately courting some House Democrats to help him oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.
The Florida Republican, who is threatening to force a vote on booting McCarthy if he works with Democrats to avoid a shutdown, approached multiple Democrats on the floor late Thursday night to discuss how they would vote on a possible vote of no confidence against McCarthy.
Among the Democrats he spoke to: Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
While liberals have never been expected to bail out McCarthy, Gaetz’s maneuvering is the latest sign that he is serious about his efforts to try to oust the speaker in the coming days. His conversations with Democrats were confirmed by three people familiar with the discussions.
During their conversation, Jayapal told Gaetz that progressives would not support McCarthy — a position that her group had discussed privately earlier this week. Jayapal also urged Gaetz to defer his ouster bid until after the looming shutdown, which is expected to begin at midnight Sunday.
“He’s been talking to everybody about it,” Jayapal told POLITICO. “I told him in our caucus, in the Progressive Caucus, we’re not planning to save McCarthy — for a whole host of reasons. And so, we really need to get through the shutdown first.”
Jayapal is not the only Democrat whom Gaetz approached on the floor. He was also seen speaking to the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who is a whip for the progressive group.
Gaetz denied talking to Democrats about such an effort, telling POLITICO that it’s “false” to claim he was courting them on a potential vote to eject McCarthy as speaker. He said he is focused on “killing” a short-term spending bill that McCarthy is teeing up for a vote on Friday.
Gaetz’s move is all but certain to anger GOP colleagues who will accuse him of hypocrisy for reaching across the aisle – while vowing to punish McCarthy for doing the same.
“We want him out,” one angry McCarthy-allied House Republican said of Gaetz, speaking on condition of anonymity. This Republican expressed the hope that the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz will end with a finding that can allow his party to “kick his ass back to Florida.”
Nicholas Wu contributed.
