Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) will co-sponsor a motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), marking a second Republican who publicly threatened his removal.
Massie told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting Tuesday he would back the effort introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month, a lawmaker inside the meeting confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The change comes just one day after Johnson proposed a four-pronged plan to provide foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan through separate bills — a proposal that has been met with pushback by members of his own conference.
Johnson “should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker,” Massie posted on X after the closed-door meeting in which he informed Johnson of his decision.
A defiant Johnson responded Tuesday, declaring: “I am not resigning. And it is, in my view, an absurd notion.”
Johnson told reporters the motion to vacate threat “is not helpful to the cause, it is not helpful to the country. It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda.”
Massie’s announcement comes at a precarious time for Johnson as the speaker’s historically small majority will become even tighter by the end of this week with the resignation of Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI).
With Gallagher’s absence, that brings the Republicans’ majority to 217-213 as of Friday, meaning Republicans can only afford to lose one vote on any given measure to pass the lower chamber.
With that temporary one-vote majority, Johnson could see himself pushed into the corner as he stares down the motion to vacate that was filed by Greene last month.
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A motion to vacate requires only a simple majority to pass, meaning if all Democrats voted to oust Johnson, it would only take two Republicans to join in order to pass. However, Rep. Tom Souzzi (D-NY) came out as the first Democrat last month to support Johnson if he faces a motion to vacate from the GOP.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) also pledged not to back the motion to vacate. “Massie wants the world to burn, I won’t stand by and watch,” the Democrat posted on X. “I have a bucket of water.”
