WASHINGTON – The Republican Party was hit hard last week by a narrow majority. The decision to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas he fell behind by just one vote and stunned the party leaders.
It’s Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. was an embarrassing defeat for and sparked a wave of criticism as Republicans begged. A slim majority of 219 to 212 would not rule them out and brought non-stop chaos across Capitol Hill.
This margin will change later next week Voters in New York’s 3rd Congressional DistrictCovering parts of Queens and Long Island, it speaks for itself. The only question is whether the Republican majority will shrink even further, or if they will regain the votes they lost after the election. rep. Expulsion of George SantosRN.Y., was fired after a 23-count federal indictment alleged a smorgasbord of crimes.
The race pits former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is running as an independent-minded lawmaker willing to break with his party, against Nassau County Republican Rep. Mazi Philip, who wants to ride on frustrations over immigration and crime. It’s a close race: Newsday/Siena College request On Thursday, Suozzi found the lead within the margin of error by 4 points.
The outcome will affect Republican hopes of impeaching other officials, including President Joe Biden, as well as legislation that must be passed, such as funding the government, reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, approving the farm bill and deciding whether to renew. unwarranted supervisory powers.
If the past week has taught members of Congress anything, it’s that one vote can make all the difference.
House GOP leaders expect another vote on Tuesday to impeach Mayorkas, though that would require perfect majority attendance and the R-La., who is on medical leave battling cancer. It will demand the expected return of Majority Leader Steve Scalise. If he fails again in the House on Tuesday, the outcome in New York could determine whether Republicans have the votes to impeach him.
The two candidates are divided along party lines on this issue.
“I will vote for him. I will impeach him,” Philip said in an interview. “I think he failed to protect the voters. He could not cope with his work.”
Suozzi called the impeachment effort a “political witch hunt” that would not solve the border crisis, and only pushed through legislation.
“It doesn’t even make sense to do it, as some Republicans are saying,” he said at a recent forum hosted by PIX11. “Do you want to fix the border? You are not going to fix it by accusing the secretary. Ultimately, you’re going to fix it with bipartisan legislation to fix it.”
The wafer-thin House majority has made it difficult for Republican leaders to vote at all because a small group of rebels could block them. Instead, Johnson has been a regular force use “suspension of rules” A filibuster is a process that requires a two-thirds majority to pass, but bypasses a procedural vote that its opponents use to kill legislation.
The failed Majorca vote left some in the House of Representatives wondering if it was a mistake to expel Santos. Others lamented several recent resignations that have reduced their margins, including former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the ousted speaker.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., lamented that the GOP majority was so small that Democrats were able to bring back Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, from the hospital to vote in a wheelchair to overturn the Mallorcans’ impeachment.
“Of course, Steve Scalise has cancer. … After our former speaker left us and became a lobbyist, it put us in a bit of a bind,” said Burchett, who voted to remove McCarthy. “So I think it will be brought up again and I think it will be successful.” (McCarthy has not yet announced his new job since leaving Congress.)
It’s swing districts like these that will decide whether House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who voted for Biden and Suozzi in 2020 and then went Republican in 2022, remains minority leader or becomes speaker next year.
“Tuesday’s special election is a race between Tom Suozzi and the most extreme Republican candidate on the other side of the aisle,” Jeffries said. “Tom Suozzi is a naive, out-of-work public servant.”
“And let’s see what happens after the election, what it all means,” he said.
Last week, Johnson traveled to New York to help Philip.
“I’m in New York because Mazi Philip is here,” he said in an interview with Fox Business on February 9. “He will do it. “It will send a strong message to Democrats that going into this election cycle, we have a great race, we have great candidates, we feel really bullish about the future.”