Politics

Democrats Compare Speaker Of The House Elections To Jan. 6

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House Democrats compared the Republican Party’s election of the Speaker of the House to events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot in comments to Axios Thursday.

House Republicans are still struggling to agree on a speaker after three days and 11 failed votes as 21 Republicans oppose the nomination of Republican California Rep. Kevin McCarthy. Members of the Gallery Group, a support group of House Democrats who were in the House Gallery when rioters entered the Capitol building, told Axios there were links between the Jan. 6 riot and the current speaker fight, with some suggesting Republicans were responsible for both.

“It was the government shutdown in ’19, the insurrection of ’21, and now the current chaos of ’23,” Democratic Colorado Rep. Jason Crow told Axios. “The common denominator … is having a handful of Republicans in the House of Representatives who have no interest in governing.”

“I’ve been thanking my lucky stars all week that Republicans weren’t in charge two years ago,” Democratic California Rep. Sara Jacobs told the outlet.

One member went so far as to imply the speaker elections damaged democracy.

“The whole campus is aware of this juxtaposition of these two dates and what they’re attempting to do, which is to disrupt our democracy,” Democratic New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster told Axios. “It’s not lost on us that some of these people were the actors that were involved on January 6.”

Democrats aren’t the only ones slamming the McCarthy opponents; Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw compared anti-McCarthy Republicans to terrorists Wednesday and doubled down on his comments shortly afterwards.