Hi all,
I think that saying that a Democrat might win the speakership is purely a scare tactic.
From what I am reading, the speaker must win a simple majority of total votes cast, so 218 if all vote. If the dissenting Republicans vote for anyone other than McCarthy there is no way McCarthy can reach majority unless democrats vote for him. Representatives can vote for anyone. They are not limited to choosing between the nominees.
As long as Republicans don’t vote for the Democrat nominee, the Democrat can’t reach majority either. As much as I detest the Rinos, I don’t think they would vote for a democrat.
Even though the dissenting Republicans won’t have enough votes to elect anyone else, they can spoil the speaker election indefinitely.
The worst that would happen if the dissenters stand firm is that there will be no speaker for an indefinite period of time.
Would the Democrats cross over and vote for McCarthy? If so McCarthy still wins speakership, but he wins it having to live with being elected by his opposition.
The outcome wouldn’t change, but at least we would have had some Republicans demonstrate that they actually have backbones.
Best case is that the opposition in the Republican party holds or even grows and they stall the process so long that McCarthy has to withdraw.
What happens after that is anybody’s guess.
I would appreciate it if somebody with more knowledge of the process could jump in here to let me know if this is actually the case.
Love,
O2
You present a great case... To bad everyone left the thread and didn’t see it. I might copy and paste it if I see an opportunity... I’ll give you credit of course. :)