Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., declared that "anything is possible" after she was seen having conversations with Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., during the floor vote for speaker of the House.
The progressive congresswoman raised the possibility that GOP speaker nominee Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., might need to enter into negotiations with Democrats after he failed to garner the 218 votes needed to win the speakership.
"I do not believe that Kevin McCarthy has the votes,” Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC Tuesday night. “I believe that a lot of the opposition to him is very personal. I believe his leadership style is incompatible with a lot of Republican members and certainly the Democratic Caucus.
"So the question is, Is there anyone in their caucus that can build that consensus? If there isn't, McCarthy's team may have to come to the Democratic Party. And, if that's the case, then what would that even look like? It's rather unprecedented. Could it result in a potential coalition government?
"Could we get Democratic chairs of committees as a result?"
In AOC’s scenario, McCarthy would gain the 20 or so votes he needs to become speaker and Democrats would obtain major concessions from him in return. The New York Democrat made it clear this was unlikely to happen.
Ocasio-Cortez had Twitter flummoxed Tuesday when she was spotted talking with Gosar and Gaetz — two Republican congressmen with whom she has had combative relationships previously.
Cabot Phillips, of The Daily Wire, tweeted, "Any body language or lip-reading experts wanna weigh in on this conversation between AOC and Paul Gosar just now?"
"Snape was only trying to protect Harry," Newsmax foreign correspondent Alex Salvi joked, referring to characters in J.K. Rowling’s "Harry Potter" series. "Dumbledore knew when Voldemort killed Harry’s parents, at that moment, his soul latched onto the only living thing in the room — Harry himself. Dumbledore knew Harry was a horcrux and would have to die."
The two GOP lawmakers are among the chief opponents of McCarthy’s ascent to the speakership.
The election for speaker devolved into chaos Tuesday, after the House failed to select its leader in the initial round of voting for the first time in a century. The process hasn’t gone to more than one ballot since the Civil War.
All members of the House voted in the three rounds on Tuesday, meaning that the winner of the speaker race needed to clear a 218-vote threshold to be chosen. That number would be lower if any members were absent or voted “present.”
McCarthy's final vote tally was 202 on Tuesday and voting resumes in the House on Wednesday.
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