The House overwhelmingly dismissed a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) Wednesday night, shortly after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) triggered a floor vote on her resolution.
The majority of Republicans and Democrats opposed Greene’s motion to vacate the speakership. The final vote on a motion to table her resolution was 359–43–7, with 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats in favor of the latter measure. Ten Republicans, including resolution co-sponsors Representatives Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.), joined Greene in voting against the motion to table.
After the motion to vacate failed, Massie posted a photo on X showing the eleven names of members who opted “not to save” Speaker Johnson. Greene also took to social media, saying Johnson belongs to the “Uniparty.”
Greene has been critical of Johnson, accusing the Republican leader of allying himself with Democrats in passing a national-security package that gave billions in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan without prioritizing border security.
“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort; that is certainly what it was,” Johnson said after the Wednesday vote. “Hopefully, this is the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress. It’s regrettable and it’s not who we are as Americans. We’re better than this. We need to get beyond it.”
The vote, which marks the second time in less than a year that Republicans tried ousting their own elected leader, came about a week after Democrats indicated they would vote to table the motion to vacate if it was triggered.
“At this moment, upon completion of our national-security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” three House Democratic leaders said in a joint statement on April 30. “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”
The Georgia congresswoman has sat on her motion to vacate for weeks since she filed it in late March.
“Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat Speaker of the House,” Greene said in response to the Democratic leadership’s statement. “I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes. Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out party!”
While a small group of detractors oppose him, Johnson received the support of former president Donald Trump last month amid the ouster threat from Greene. Trump reiterated his support for the speaker after the vote concluded on Wednesday while calling for unity among Republicans in Congress.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he loves Greene’s fighting spirit but urged the House GOP caucus to refrain from voting for a motion to vacate given the party’s razor-thin majority in the lower chamber. The presidential candidate also called Johnson “a good man who is trying very hard” in his leadership position.