AUGUSTA, Maine — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden said Thursday he would be willing to help Republicans change rules to make it more difficult to remove a House speaker after a hard-right member used them to remove Kevin McCarthy earlier this week.
Golden, a centrist Democrat who represents Maine’s swing 2nd District, ruled out voting for the next Republican leader but said he would help the majority party dump a rule that allows just one member to initiate a motion to remove the speaker.
McCarthy, a Republican from California accepted that as a condition of taking the job in January to appease hardliners including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, who led the effort to oust the former speaker and won the votes of all House Democrats present including Golden.
But the congressman said during a WGAN radio interview Thursday morning he has “started to backchannel to certain people who may be running for speaker” that he would support changing the House’s “motion to vacate” rules if the next speaker was short a few votes on making that change.
“I think the caucus supports that because they’re tired of being held hostage by this rule that they voted for to begin with but really puts all the power in the hands of Matt Gaetz and just a couple of other people,” Golden said.
The House of Representatives voted 216-210 on Tuesday to remove McCarthy, with eight Republicans joining all Democrats in voting to get rid of a speaker for the first time in U.S. history. Gaetz, who criticized McCarthy for relying on Democratic votes to reach a temporary spending deal over the weekend that averted a government shutdown, took advantage of House rules that only required a simple majority to approve his motion to vacate.
The House is at a standstill ahead of a mid-November deadline to fund the government, with Republicans planning to meet Tuesday for a first round of internal party voting on a potential next leader. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, and Kevin Hern, R-Oklahoma, are among those seeking the speakership.
Jordan has reportedly said he would keep the current motion to vacate rules in place if elected speaker, while several moderates have joined Golden in calling for changes.
Republicans have a 221-212 advantage over Democrats in the House. A member will need 218 votes to become speaker, something that proved difficult for McCarthy to gain in January when it took 15 rounds to choose him.
Golden said he would not help the majority party elect their next speaker but would support the removal-related rule change “for the good of the country.”
He reiterated the reasons he shared Tuesday for opposing McCarthy, including that the California Republican would not support laws benefiting Maine’s 2nd District and did not seek the support of Democrats to save him.
Golden also said McCarthy had sent out “lieutenants” to try to win over Democratic members. But Golden said they would not agree to his demands that included committing to avoid a government shutdown, holding a vote on additional funding for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion, and changing the “motion to vacate” rules.
The Maine congressman, who is up for reelection in 2024, added he told an unnamed senator that he had “very little confidence that Kevin was likely to ever stand up” to Gaetz and other Republicans who long opposed McCarthy.
“I have more hope that the next speaker will come in knowing exactly what he’s up against and that he has to take these people on,” Golden said.
