Josh Gottheimer could have tried to save McCarthy’s speakership. Here’s why he didn’t.

In theory, during yesterday’s fraught vote to oust Kevin McCarthy from his role as Speaker of the House, moderate Democrats like Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) could have held the keys to McCarthy’s salvation. Only eight total Republicans voted for the motion to depose McCarthy, so it would have taken just a handful of Democrats to sink the effort.

But Gottheimer, alongside the entire Democratic caucus, chose to vote for McCarthy’s downfall. Gottheimer told the New Jersey Globe today that while he wants the House to maintain stability and bipartisanship, he has no intention of getting involved in internecine GOP fights.

“The vote for leader, as you know, is a family vote,” Gottheimer said. “It’s something they work out, the majority party works out in their caucus, just like we do in ours… What I believe is, that’s their family, and in Jersey we don’t mess with other people’s families. I leave that to their family.”

The motion against McCarthy was brought by provocateur Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) in response to McCarthy’s decision to put a stopgap funding bill on the House floor over the weekend. The bill, which ultimately averted a government shutdown, got near-unanimous Democratic support but fractured the Republican caucus, with many conservatives seeing it as a capitulation to Democrats.

Given that it was right-wing Republicans who were making the motion to oust him – over a bipartisan deal with Democrats, no less – McCarthy could have in theory reached across the aisle to hammer out a compromise deal to retain his gavel. Gottheimer said no such outreach occurred.

“Speaker McCarthy said that he was not interested in working with Democrats,” Gottheimer said. “He said he wasn’t willing to sell his soul and work with Democrats. That’s his decision.”

Among other things, the decision by Gottheimer and his fellow moderate Democrats to vote against McCarthy has reportedly caused some fissures within the Problem Solvers Caucus, a large bipartisan caucus of House moderates that Gottheimer co-chairs. Some Republican members of the group are reportedly quitting en masse over the vote.

Gottheimer said that he was sympathetic to Republican frustrations, but added that he wasn’t concerned about the future of the Problem Solvers.

“Listen, it was a tough, emotional day yesterday, for everyone – especially the Republicans,” he said. “These are real issues that affect people. I totally understand that.”

Whatever the motivations behind the McCarthy vote, it’s over and done now, and McCarthy has said he isn’t going to try to reclaim the Speakership. That sets up a wide-open contest to be the next Speaker, with several top GOP House members already launching campaigns ahead of next week’s internal caucus vote.

Like every other Democrat, Gottheimer intends to support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for the top job. Given that Democrats are in the minority, though, Gottheimer said he realistically hopes to have a new Republican Speaker who is willing to work across the aisle and ditch rules like the one that allowed Gaetz alone to force a vote on ousting McCarthy.

“Are there changes in the rules of the institution that would encourage more bipartisan governing and stop the motion that one person can vacate the chair, which is what happened? That part’s going to be up to the Republicans on how they want to govern,” he said. “What I’m immediately focused on is, how do we make sure we do everything we can to get back to the table and back to work?”