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Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies are signaling that the push by some GOP rebels to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is not gaining traction within the Republican base.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has for weeks insisted that the GOP voter base is infuriated with Johnson and is behind her push for his removal.
But her resolution, known as a motion to vacate, has sat untouched for nearly 40 days. And after a weeklong recess, even Johnson’s conservative critics returned to Washington on Monday saying they heard little to none from their constituents about the matter.
“I think the GOP base wants Republicans to live up to what they ran on,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. “Look, if you could go downany street in America and say, ‘What’s your top 10 priorities?’ Would [motion to vacate] come up? No. Will what they’re paying? Yes.”
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is pushing to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (Getty Images/File)
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., conceded that all lawmakers must answer to their individual districts, but when speaking for his own, he said voters are far more concerned about the border than about House GOP party politics.
“You’ve got terrorists on known watch-lists coming from the north and south borders. And meanwhile, we’re talking about inner squabbling,” Mills said. “I’m sorry, but like, my constituents are less concerned about who’s sitting as speaker right now and are more concerned about securing the border and being able to afford how to live.”
Another conservative Freedom Caucus ally, Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, similarly said he has heard little from Republicans in his Texas district on the motion to vacate.
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“I don’t think the average citizen … is concerned about who the speaker of the House is. They’re concerned about what I’m doing, and they’re concerned about the nation as a whole, but the speaker doesn’t impact them day to day,” Self said. “There are people who are very energized about it, don’t get me wrong, but the bulk are not.”
One GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely said their constituents outright rejected Greene’s effort when they spoke with them back home.
House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman says Republican voters are not concerned about intraparty House GOP politics. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images/File)
“Nobody is pushing it except [Greene],” the GOP lawmaker said. “At home, no one wants it.”
House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., suggested that toppling Johnson could lead to a worse result for the GOP in the end.
“I think what the base wants is just the opportunity for the things that we all believe in to start coming to fruition. That’s what the base cares about,” he said. “When you have the makeup of our conference like we do, I don’t know how we come out of a motion to vacate with a more conservative solution.”
Greene filed her resolution in late March in protest of Johnson’s bipartisan work on government spending and foreign aid.
Her resolution earned two co-sponsors in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after the House passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine this month, but for the most part, it has fallen flat within the GOP.
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Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is also pushing to oust Johnson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/File)
Even Johnson’s critics in the House Freedom Caucus have distanced themselves from the push to oust Johnson, signaling little appetite for the three weeks of chaos that followed the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall.
Greene told Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast last week that Johnson “betrayed” Republican voters and suggested they were as angry – if not angrier – than when former President Trump lost re-election.
“This is different,” she said. “They’re angry on a whole other level. And here’s what really worries me: They’re done with Republican leadership like Mike Johnson, who totally sold us out to the Democrats.”
Trump spoke out in support of Johnson last week.
Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office for comment.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
