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AUGUSTA, Maine — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden will vote in favor of a hardline conservative’s motion to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, saying in a Tuesday statement that the Republican leader “doesn’t have the pulse” of his Maine district.
Golden, a moderate Democrat from the 2nd District, had kept quiet on whether he would defend McCarthy before releasing a statement after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, filed a “motion to vacate” late Monday.
The motion requires a simple majority to approve it in order to remove McCarthy as speaker. He has reportedly called a vote on the motion for Tuesday afternoon, and both McCarthy and Gaetz will need to win Democrats over to prevail given the chamber’s narrow Republican majority.
“Kevin McCarthy has been in Congress for 17 years. He does not offer new leadership,” Golden said Tuesday morning. “He offers the same type of leadership that Maine has come to expect from much of the national political establishment of both parties.”
“Absent any significantly meaningful benefit for Maine’s Second District, I see no reason to vote for him,” Golden continued.
