| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Hakeem Jeffries (NY 8) | 212 | 49.1% |
| Republican | Jim Jordan (OH 4) | 200 | 46.3% |
| Republican | Steve Scalise (LA 1) | 7 | 1.6% |
| Republican | Kevin McCarthy (CA 20) | 6 | 1.4% |
| Republican | Lee Zeldin | 3 | 0.7% |
| Republican | Tom Cole (OK 4) | 1 | 0.2% |
| Republican | Tom Emmer (MN 6) | 1 | 0.2% |
| Republican | Mike Garcia (CA 27) | 1 | 0.2% |
| Republican | Thomas Massie (KY 4) | 1 | 0.2% |
Note: official party nominees in bold.
Yes, the objective of Democrats is to achieve Democratic policy goals. That’s why Democrats have, in fact, already indicated that they are willing to support a bipartisan GOP Speaker who will make a deal with Democrats to help achieve some of those goals.
What they are not willing to do is support a GOP politician who offers nothing to Democrats in order to defeat a different GOP politician who also offers nothing to Democrats. It’s a distinction without a difference, because either way Democratic policies will not be achieved.
In other words, there is no reason to support GOP politicians who are not willing to help Democrats. There is no reason to support someone like McCarthy in order to defeat someone like Gaetz. Because neither one wants to help Democrats achieve Democratic goals. Their superficial difference - i.e. steadfast opposition to Democrats based on expediency (McCarthy) vs extremism (Gaetz) - is irrelevant.
Irrelevant to the issue at hand: I never suggested supporting a GOP politician.
I suggested an apolitical outsider: someone other than a congressman. A person untainted by political aspirations. I suggested a Medal of Honor recipient, but we could go with an astronaut, or the head of a major charitable organization, or someone else with an awe-inspiring origin story who hasn’t yet managed to piss off half the country.
They’ve asked the GOP to nominate someone the Democrats can support. That’s the wrong approach. Anybody the GOP nominates will automatically be considered a partisan hack by many of the Democrats. Any division in the Democratic ranks would be very damaging. Democratic leaders would have an extremely difficult time trying to wrangle all Democrats to support any candidate the GOP puts forward.
We want the opposite. We want 212 Democrats voting for this person. That means we have to nominate this person.
This person’s unassailable record needs to scare the GOP leadership into believing 6 or more of their own members may defect. An MoH recipient can do that.
As soon as they believe that, GOP leadership has to jump on the bandwagon and back this person as well.
It would be incredibly damaging to the GOP for all of their members to shun an MoH recipient. Current and former military would crucify them.
The Speaker is a highly political job. They decide which bills will get a floor vote and which bills will not get a floor vote. One of their first decisions will be whether to bring a budget bill with Ukraine funding to the floor, or a budget bill without Ukraine funding. They will need to decide one or the other before anyone votes for them as Speaker.
If an “apolitical” outsider plans to include Ukraine funding, they would put many Republicans in a tough spot. So why exactly should they have support from those Republicans? If they plan not to fund Ukraine, why exactly should they have Democratic support?
Likewise, will the “apolitical” Speaker bring pro-choice bills or anti-choice bills to the floor? Pro-LGBTQ or anti-LGBTQ? Pro-union or anti-union? Pro-environment or anti-environment? And so on. Whichever they choose, it will cost them support.
Legislators favor certain bills, and they won’t vote for a Speaker who won’t bring those bills to the floor. Even if they have a Medal of Honor.
Several decorated war heroes have gone into politics, including GHWB, McCain, and Inouye (who actually had a MoH himself). They didn’t automatically get bipartisan support based on their military record. If 212 Democrats somehow nominated and voted for someone with a Medal of Honor, that person would immediately be labeled a Democratic war hero, like Inouye. And they would get as many Republican votes for Speaker as Inouye would have: zero.