Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday easily batted down an attempt by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust him from his post, after Democrats linked arms with most Republicans to fend off a second attempt by G.O.P. hard-liners to strip the gavel from their party leader.
The vote to kill the effort was an overwhelming 359 to 43, with seven Democrats voting “present.”
Unlike the ouster that toppled Kevin McCarthy last fall, Democrats flocked to Mr. Johnson’s rescue, with all but 39 of them voting with Republicans to kill the effort to oust him. In addition to the seven who voted “present,” registering no position, 32 Democrats voted against blocking Ms. Greene’s motion.
And this time, Ms. Greene, who had supported Mr. McCarthy as speaker, found herself on a political island. Only 11 Republicans voted in favor of moving forward with a vote on ousting Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Greene’s move came roughly three weeks after Mr. Johnson pushed through a long-stalled $95 billion national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies over the objections of Ms. Greene and other right-wing Republicans who staunchly opposed sending additional aid to Kyiv.
But as she rose on the House floor to bring up her resolution declaring the speakership vacant, Ms. Greene appeared to be engaging in a mostly symbolic move that was all but certain to fail. Only two other Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, have publicly said they would support the motion, and Democratic leaders have said their members would join an effort to kill any ouster attempt against Mr. Johnson.
“Given a choice between advancing Republican priorities or allying with Democrats to preserve his own personal power, Johnson regularly chooses to ally himself with Democrats,” Ms. Greene said.
