On Wednesday, the GOP-led House quickly defeated a bid by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from his top perch.
Within an hour of Greene declaring that she was going through with her motion to vacate the chair — an announcement met by a wave of boos in the chamber — members overwhelmingly voted to table the measure by a 359-43 tally.
The measure was introduced in a privileged fashion, meaning leadership had two legislative days to act on it, similar to what Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) did last year to queue up a vote that led to Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as speaker.
Unlike what happened with McCarthy, who lacked support from across the aisle when he was forced out of the role, Johnson had the backing of Democrats who said they would vote to table a motion to vacate the chair brought by Greene.
He also got a boost from former President Donald Trump, now the likely GOP nominee in the 2024 election, who stood with Johnson at Mar-a-Lago in April and said the speaker was “doing a very good job.”
When the vote finally did take place, 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to table the motion from Greene. Eleven Republicans and 32 Democrats opposed it. Ten Republicans and 11 Democrats did not vote.
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“I want to say that I appreciate the show of confidence for my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort. That is certainly what it was,” Johnson told reporters after the vote.
Greene had been talking about using the motion to vacate against Johnson ever since late March when the House passed a $1.2 trillion spending package.
At least two other Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), supported Greene last month as she refused to relent on her campaign against Johnson.
Johnson and Greene met over the past couple days during which Greene made a series of what she said were “suggestions,” including defunding special counsel Jack Smith’s inquiries into Trump and no more financial aid for Ukraine.
Recent polling from Monmouth University showed just one in five Americans wanted Johnson to be replaced as speaker.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday, around the time of the vote on tabling Greene’s motion, complimenting Johnson, as well as Greene. He also called attention to the slim majority the GOP has in the House while pushing for unity.