House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and his House Democrats are sitting pretty amid Republicans’ infighting over who will be the next speaker.
The Democrats’ messaging against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s speaker candidacy and their consistent voting record behind Jeffries — as well as calls for a bipartisan path forward — position the Democrats well amid the House chaos.
The Democrats have remained in lockstep behind Jeffries as their speaker nominee since the race to replace ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., kicked off.
JORDAN LOSES THIRD VOTE IN HOUSE SPEAKER’S RACE; PATH FORWARD UNCLEAR
Jeffries and the Democrats supported the motion to remove McCarthy by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida nearly three weeks ago.
Since then, Jeffries and the Democrats have been politicking hard, playing up the situation in their favor before the political pendulum swings back toward the GOP.
JORDAN OUSTED BY HOUSE GOP AS SPEAKER NOMINEE AFTER FAILED THIRD VOTE
After Jordan’s nomination to become House speaker, Jeffries and his party positioned themselves as united.
Democrats consistently highlighted Jordan’s record in Congress and his stance on the 2020 election results while pushing calls for a bipartisan deal to elect a speaker.
However, Jeffries has not named any Republicans who the House Democrats would get behind for speaker.
“House Democrats have repeatedly made clear we want to find a bipartisan path forward leader to serve at every step of the way. Republicans have rejected bipartisanship and embrace extremism,” Jeffries told reporters Friday.
The calls for bipartisanship while spotlighting the chaos infecting the GOP amid the speaker fight will also likely help the House Democrats heading into 2024.
However, House Republicans will not let the American people forget about the Democrats joining Gaetz and seven other GOP lawmakers in ousting McCarthy, and that likely won’t change before 2024.
Jordan held his third vote for speaker Friday, and he failed again to take the gavel as members of his party voted for other Republicans over him.
Twenty-five Republicans voted against Jordan, giving him just 194 votes — far short of the approximately 217 he needed to win the speaker’s race. Jeffries picked up 210 votes from House Democrats.
Jordan was later voted out as the speaker designee by House Republicans in a closed-door conference.
Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind and Adam Shaw contributed reporting.
