Alaska’s only voice in the U.S. House of Representatives cast Alaska’s vote for election-denier Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a radical Democrat from Queens, New York, for Speaker of the House.
Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, joined all other Democrats in voting for Jeffries in a roll-call vote taken on Tuesday afternoon, during the opening session of the 118th Congress.
Update: During the historic second vote, Peltola stayed with the Democrats and voted for Jeffries again.
Democrats stuck together in their support for the big city radical leftist, with 212 voting for Jeffries, with Republicans giving 203 votes to GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
A band of Republicans broke off from the main group of Republicans and voted for someone other than McCarthy, who is the elected nominee for Republicans. Of the 19 Republican defectors, 10 voted for Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, and 9 voted for others such as Rep. Jim Jordan.
Although Jeffries has more votes on the first ballot than McCarthy, he does not have enough to become speaker; he needs 218 votes and the House only has 212 Democrats, all of whom supported him. It’s unlikely there are enough Republicans to defect and elect the New York radical to lead the House. To win, a speaker must get the majority of votes of those present and voting.
Jeffries has become more radical during his five terms in Congress. He joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus and in 2019, and he was quickly selected as one of the House impeachment managers for the Democrats’ first attempt to remove former President Donald Trump. He became an acolyte of lead impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff.
Jeffries made the closing arguments before the U.S. Senate during the first impeachment trial, and said that acquitting Trump would be the “death blow” to the U.S. Constitution. Later, as Democrats tried to force a federal takeover of elections and prohibit voter ID laws, Jeffries called for the Senate to “detonate the filibuster” and said that voter ID laws are a “Jim Crow-era relic.” Jeffries has said that Republicans are a cult.
In 2016, Jeffries said the election of Trump was “illegitimate” because of Russian influence. Mainstream media covered for him, saying that he was not an election denier.
House Republican leader McCarthy is the the GOP conference’s nominee for Speaker. The House will now take a second vote. Meanwhile, Rep. Biggs has stated that McCarthy should withdraw his name. Rep. Jim Jordan has risen to renominate Kevin McCarthy for the House as a second vote is being queued up.
Expect this story to be superseded by quickly moving events in the House.
