Sen. Joe Manchin III said that the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy seemed “personal” and that if he was a House member, he would’ve voted to save Mr. McCarthy.
The West Virginia Democrat said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the situation in the House is “a shame.”
“This one seemed to be personal,” Mr. Manchin said. “That’s all I can say. For some reason, it was personal, and I don’t know all the ins and outs, but people that I know are very rational, very reasonable, centrist, moderates, Democrats [and] they would have naturally reached over and helped Kevin. There was a purpose and reason they didn’t do it.”
Mr. Manchin said that he would not have let any personal gripe interfere with how he voted if he was a member of the House, and that this situation “got deeper than I’ve ever seen, I can’t explain it.”
On Tuesday, the House voted to oust Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, from the speaker job with a 216-210 vote. The motion was brought by Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, and seven Republicans and all the House Democrats joined him in voting to remove the speaker.
The House is expected to vote for a new speaker next week.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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