IDK if any of you are following this, but I'm slowly starting to get back into following all the political news I used to (I had to tap out for mental health reasons starting at the end of Obama's final term). This Speaker of the House nonsense has me all riled up, but THIS is my favorite fact to come out of things so far:
From CNN:
...The speaker is elected by a majority of the 435-member House, which is normally 218. But "present" votes or absences lower the threshold to reach a majority.
There is already one open seat caused by the death of Virginia Republican Rep. Donald McEachin. If enough of the 20 hardline Republicans voted "present," it could enable Rep. Kevin McCarthy to win with fewer than 218 votes. Two "present" votes lower the threshold for a majority by one vote.
- 435 - 1 open seat = 434; 218 is a majority.
- 434 - 1 "present" vote = 433; 217 is a majority.
- 434 - 3 "present" votes = 431; 216 is a majority.
- 434 - 5 "present" votes = 429; 215 is a majority.
- 434 - 7 "present" votes = 427; 214 is a majority.
- 434 - 9 "present" votes = 425; 213 is a majority.
However! The trick only works up to this point since the Democratic nominee, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, has had 212 votes. If 11 Republicans voted "present," Jeffries would become House speaker.
That means McCarthy still needs to flip at least 11 Republicans who have voted against him even if the other nine voted “present.”
There are also other reasons a member-elect could vote "present." Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana did it already as a sort of protest of McCarthy. She didn't want to support the hardliners who are trying to block his speakership, but she did want to signal to McCarthy that he needs to wrap this up or move aside.
______
I absolutely believe these 20 traitors (yeah, they're Jan 6 supporters, so they're traitors in my mind), don't understand enough about politics and rules and numbers and can't see beyond their own nose, that they could all FAFO and end up with a Democrat Speaker of the House as the minority party.