Democrats indicated they'd help save McCarthy before voting to oust him: sources

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Multiple House Democrats had indicated to GOP lawmakers that they would help former speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., avoid being ousted on Tuesday, two sources told Fox News Digital.

A GOP member of the Problem Solvers Caucus indicated that right up until the final days, Democrats signaled they may at least be open to voting "present" to lower the threshold needed for McCarthy’s political survival.

The lawmaker pointed to Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., who is not a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, but suggested early on that he could be open to helping McCarthy.

"Even people like that were saying they were going to vote present. And something changed over the weekend. So yes, the members of the Problem Solvers gave absolutely no indication that they were going to side with [Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.]," they said.

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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the top job on Tuesday (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate against McCarthy on Monday evening. The next day, seven other Republicans joined him and every House Democrat to oust McCarthy from leadership.

Acknowledging that Gaetz would likely pull the move again if it failed the first time, the Republican who spoke with Fox News Digital said he and other GOP Problem Solvers appealed to Democrats to vote "present" on the initial procedural vote in order to buy time to pull together a bipartisan proposal on a House Rules overhaul, which would have likely made it harder for members to topple the speaker.

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"We wanted them to vote present for the first round on the motion, to make the motion to table, so that they could have time to rewrite the rules package. And the Democrats wouldn't even give us the courtesy of 48 hours to try to sort this out," the lawmaker said.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's harshest critics, speaks to reporters on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Another source familiar with discussions previously told Fox News Digital that senior Problem Solvers Caucus Republicans attempted to appeal to their Democratic counterparts until the final moments — and believed they might help.

"Republican leaders in the Problem Solvers Caucus made last-ditch efforts up until the vote to get Democrats to help save McCarthy’s speakership. They viewed it as an opportunity for a bipartisan effort to save the institution after Speaker McCarthy put a bipartisan bill to avert a government shutdown on the floor," the source said.

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"Before the House Dem meeting, a few Dem members had indicated that they would likely help save McCarthy and then flipped and joined [Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.] in ousting the speaker."

Several Republican lawmakers have since suggested possibly leaving the group in the wake of McCarthy’s ouster.

Fox News Digital reached out to Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., the group’s Democratic co-chair, for comment.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., is the Democratic co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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He defended the group in an appearance on Morning Joe on Friday, pointing out that McCarthy himself did not reach out to Democrats for help.

"I'm sure you saw what the speaker said, that he ultimately, quote, didn't want to sell his soul to Democrats, and that he wouldn't ask for any deal from anything from Democrats. So you know, it's hard to do a deal with someone who doesn't want to engage, but we certainly tried," Gottheimer said.