Democrats are testing whether a moment when Republicans shouted down a reporter for asking about Mike Johnson’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election will have a political impact.
When House Republicans held an impromptu press conference late Tuesday night to celebrate coalescing around their new speaker nominee, they were in no mood to answer tough questions—or even the obvious one.
So when ABC reporter Rachel Scott asked Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA)—the speaker nominee who has now been elevated to the speakership—about his leading efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Republicans were having none of it.
They drowned out the reporter with boos. Johnson said “next question.” And Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) told the reporter to “shut up!”
Now, a D.C.-based advocacy group, Courage For America, is seizing on the moment to attack Republicans and quickly define the new speaker.
It’s not unreasonable to tell constituents to call their congressman. The one time politicians have to believe in math is when they’re next running for office, and if they catch wind that an organized group of people are paying attention to them, and might vote against them in a block, and might actively work to convince others not to vote for them, that will be a concern.
Of course we’ve got gerrymandering, which makes that less of a concern, but still, even “safe” districts can flip unexpectedly.