N.J. Dems sound likely to vote for ousting Kevin McCarthy

Ahead of a soon-to-be-held House vote over whether to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, New Jersey Democrats are signaling that they have little interest in bailing the beleaguered Republican out.

“I think that McCarthy has to figure out how to survive,” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) said. “It’s his to figure out. It’s their mess, their civil war.”

Watson Coleman guaranteed that she’d vote against McCarthy – “I have no reason to save him,” she said. Other New Jersey Democrats were more circumspect, but all said they were deeply unhappy with how events in the House have played out.

“This is a sad day for democracy and a sad day for America,” Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) said. “The Founding Fathers were able to come together in the darkest of times… We found a way to come together. And we can’t now? It’s really sad.”

“This is just more of the chaos that prevents the Republican Party from governing,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) said.

Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) specifically laid the blame at the feet of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a right-wing McCarthy critic who filed the motion to oust the Speaker in the first place. Gaetz appears to have a few Republican allies who are also committed to deposing McCarthy; if they’re joined by every House Democrat, that’s probably enough to end the Speaker’s reign.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we’re at this point,” Payne said. “I think Matthew Gaetz doesn’t understand what he’s doing to Congress. The work of the American people will have to cease until there’s a new Speaker.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a letter to his Democratic colleagues earlier today that he and fellow House Democratic leaders would be voting to oust McCarthy. In a caucus that has been remarkably unified for the most part this year, that probably guarantees that most or all House Democrats will join Jeffries in opposing McCarthy.

New Jersey’s three House Republicans, meanwhile, are all likely to vote to retain McCarthy. None of the trio has been among the small cohort of House Republicans who have consistently jammed up House proceedings this year; all three also supported McCarthy on each of the 15 ballots it took him to become Speaker in January.

“I think the Speaker, under incredible odds against him, has had tremendous wins,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) said. “I have tremendous respect for him… I think this is a blunder on the part of those who just want to oust him.”