The Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee claimed Friday that it's "numerically possible" for Democrats to thwart Republicans and vote in House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as the new House Speaker.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) told CNN's Jim Acosta that House Democrats are firmly behind Jeffries as current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) fights to keep his job.
Acosta asked Connolly, "Is there any chance that the Democrats bail out the Republicans and help him hang on to the gavel?"
"I don't speak for the Democratic Caucus, but I do speak for myself. And I can tell you definitively, there is no chance of that. Zero. We're voting for Hakeem Jeffries," Connolly said.
He added, "And by the way, Jim, if I can, if there are a lot of people who vote 'present' on the Republican side, the risk for them — those votes don't count toward the majority. And...we have 215 sure votes for Hakeem Jeffries. If enough Republicans vote 'present', we could actually elect Hakeem Jeffries, not Mike Johnson as speaker."
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"I mean, is that possible? Could that happen today?" Acosta asked.
"It is numerically possible, absolutely. And no, I'm not predicting that, but they can't they can't afford a lot of members on their side voting 'present,' because that ... vote doesn't count toward the threshold."
The House is set to vote at noon Eastern Time on whether to keep Johnson in his current position. Johnson has repeatedly received support from President-elect Donald Trump, even though MAGA Republicans like Thomas Massie (R-KY) have vowed to thwart Johnson's re-election.
Massie told Matt Gaetz on the former Florida representative's new One America News Network show Thursday that he'd rather have someone "pull all my fingers out" than vote for Johnson.
"You can shove bamboo up in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson,” Massie said in dramatic style.
Some Republicans are upset with Johnson for his handling of the recent federal spending bill vote that took place before the holidays and threatened a government shutdown. Johnson managed to get the continuing resolution passed on the third vote, but was accused of capitulating to Democrats and keeping too much pork in the budget.
