Rep. Thomas Massie, a conservative member of the U.S. House of Representatives Republican majority, announced Tuesday that he will cosponsor the motion to vacate the speakership, effectively removing House Speaker Mike Johnson. He is the first Republican to cosponsor the motion, and he did so less than 24 hours after the motion was made by Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia.
“I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by @RepMTG. He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker,” Massie wrote.
With a thin Republican majority, it appears likely that Johnson will lose his gavel, as the conservative wing will be joined by most, if not all, Democrats, if only to create chaos in the House Republican majority.
Johnson is an invited speaker at this week’s Alaska Republican Party convention, where he was scheduled to appear by video to speak to Alaska Republican officers who will gather at the Hotel Captain Cook on April 29 and 20. It’s unclear if, considering the coup under way, he will appear.
Massie joined Congress in 2013 after serving as Lewis County judge executive. He represents Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, across Northern Kentucky, covering a large portion of the Appalachian region and the banks of the Ohio River.
On Friday, he signaled his intention to move against Johnson, writing, “we have one less Republican in the majority as Rep Gallagher leaves instead of finishing his term. As a going away gift, Speaker Johnson plans to force the senate to take up Gallagher’s bill to ban tiktok and give Presidential power to ban websites. But still no border.”
He was obliquely referring to a plan Johnson was moving to push foreign aid packages through the House as three separate bills — one for Ukraine, one for Israel, and one for other national security measures. Johnson did not tie border security to the plan.
It would be the second time in six months that the Speaker was fired. On Oct. 3, 2023, the U.S. House voted to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California. That motion to vacate was filed by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, another member of the more conservative side of the House. McCarthy then left Congress later last year after having been the first Speaker in history to be removed by a motion to vacate. Johnson, of Louisiana, became Speaker after a contentious process that ended in a vote on Oct. 25, 2023.
Johnson is a conservative, having worked as an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom. But his recent tendency to work with the Biden Administration has irritated his former supporters.
