For the record, I’m not available for the House Speakership. If elected I will not serve.
@mattblaze The reason for Democrats to vote down the Speaker was "because we can", or what is their sensible reason? (I'm on the other side of the pond, so forgive me I don't know)
@hehemrin The norm in the House is that members never vote outside their party for the Speaker.
More details will likely surface soon, but one reason may be that they negotiated a budget deal with him and he subsequently abandoned it (under pressure from members of his own party.) They may be hoping for a more trustworthy bargaining partner.
According to this article, he wasn't willing to offer anything in exchange for their support.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/03/1203310040/mccarthy-gaetz-speaker-news
@hehemrin @mattblaze McCarthy has been openly hostile to Democrats for many years, so I'm sure they found it repugnant to throw him a lifeline. As to a "sensible" reason, a couple of potential ones: a) Dems may think that almost anyone, even another Republican, would be better than McCarthy; and b) Dems want to see the GOP self-destruct and won't help the party not do that.
Given how little constructive legislation has come out of the House this term, I don't think it's any worse to have no Speaker than to have McCarthy as speaker.