Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) admitted that she was unaware of who Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) was before he became Speaker of the House in October.
Speaking to reporters with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) on Wednesday, Beatty said her initial response to Johnson’s nomination as Speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ouster was: “I did not know him.”
After Johnson won the gavel, Beatty said she approached Johnson to introduce herself. And, according to Beatty, Johnson knew her.
“I went over to introduce myself to him on the floor a couple days afterwards and said I want to come over and introduce myself to you, and he said, ‘Congresswoman Beatty, I know who you are,’” Beatty said.
Johnson has been under the microscope in recent weeks amid divisions in the GOP over how to handle government spending, funding for Ukraine and the border.
A few GOP members have threatened to oust him if he brings legislation to the floor that does not meet their demands. That has led to discussions among Democrats about whether they might come to Johnson’s support.
Beatty was quick to tell reporters she would not vote to protect Johnson if his party once again calls for a motion to vacate the Speaker. Such a motion toppled McCarthy and can be brought by a single member. The motion would trigger a vote by the House, one that is generally a party-line tally.
Beatty backtracked slightly about backing Johnson after Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), the current chair of the CBC, and Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) both said they would defer to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on how to handle a motion to vacate.
“Obviously I’m with Hakeem,” said Beatty.
Ivey pointed out that Democrats had been prepared to save McCarthy — until just hours ahead of the vote.
It wasn’t until after McCarthy blamed the shutdown on House Democrats that Jeffries advised Democrats to vote against him when the motion to vacate came up.
Now, with Johnson’s position seemingly shaky, Ivey said Democrats may have “to play it by ear based on the situation.”
“The voting to take out McCarthy, that happened over a weekend,” said Ivey. “But if he’d conducted himself differently than he did that weekend, especially the day after Hakeem saves his behind on the floor with the vote … It was outrageous.”