Democrats could have voted to keep McCarthy

Recently published op-eds, letters to the editor and even cartoons in the Marin IJ have been uniformly critical of new House Speaker Mike Johnson. I am concerned that this is based on little more than his reputation as a conservative Christian.

I would like to review the history of events that led to Johnson's election. Republicans narrowly won a majority in the House of Representatives in 2022. After 15 ballots, Rep. Kevin McCarthy from Bakersfield was finally elected speaker. McCarthy, who some would argue is a relative moderate, made an effort to reach out to Democrats to come to a compromise on various legislative issues. This infuriated a handful of farright Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

Gaetz filed a motion to vacate the chair, but 210 Republicans voted to retain McCarthy. However, eight Republicans and 208 Democrats voted to oust McCarthy.

Republicans then nominated the more conservative Rep. Steve Scalise. The same group voted against Scalise. Republicans then went to Rep. Jim Jordan, who is even more of a conservative than Scalise. Once again, all Democrats and that tiny group of Republicans voted against Jordan. Finally, Republicans came up with Johnson, the most conservative member they could find who would satisfy the group led by Gaetz.

If only three Democrats out of their entire voting caucus had voted to retain McCarthy, he would still be speaker. So when complaints begin coming in regarding the legislative initiatives taken by Johnson, I think Democrats should take the blame. Blaming Republicans in the House — the vast majority of whom voted to retain McCarthy — is not fair.