Gaetz, AOC Discuss Voting Strategies During Speakership Election

In 2018 during the Supreme Court nomination hearings of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) famously had his self-proclaimed “Spartacus moment.” He was instantly mocked for that comment, and Justice Kavanaugh sits upon the bench today. However, it appears that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) could’ve actually had one for himself (and no he didn’t give himself the title of Spartacus this time).

And like Sen. Booker, Rep.-elect Gaetz’s attempt to disallow Rep.  Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from House Speakership might eventually fall of deaf ears. However, it could force Rep.-elect McCarthy to move further to the right in a narrowly controlled Republican House.

But alas, this is not the full story.

About a month ago, The Floridian reported on the rare moment of political unity between Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Their agreement about railroad strikes made headlines as it seemed that these two legislators, on completely different sides of the aisle, would never come to an agreement.

In the back of the House chamber during the Speaker vote, Gaetz was seen conversing with Ocasio-Cortez inquiring about different possible strategies that Democrats could take in order to expedite the eventual election of McCarthy as speaker.

To do this, a number of Democrats would have to vote present instead of for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in order to lower the threshold that McCarthy would need in order to be elected, according to The Intercept.

“McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold,” AOC told The Intercept. “And I fact-checked and said absolutely not.”

The move by Democrats reaffirms the narrative that they unified. However, to see Gaetz and AOC together talking about political strategy was indeed a strange sight to see for many.