Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) took to the House floor this week to chide his Republican colleagues with a “size matters” argument, refuting the oft-repeated narrative that the GOP has been given a mandate by the American electorate. Claiming the opposite is true, McGovern emphasized that the House majority currently enjoyed by Republicans is the slimmest in nearly 100 years.
“You guys actually lost seats,” McGovern said, driving home his corrective to the mandate idea, citing election results that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is acutely aware of.
But McGovern’s main objective wasn’t to beat the dead mandate horse into submission. The Massachusetts lawmaker was instead focused on pointing out what he characterized as a particularly galling GOP hypocrisy on the issue of proxy voting. That is, remote voting by a member of the House of Representatives who is not physically present for the vote.
Along the way, McGovern accused Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) of breaking the law — a law that Republicans insisted on when they were a minority in the House.
Congressman McGovern gives a masterclass on Republican hypocrisy https://t.co/pxkQz6QdsZ
— Tom Colicchio (@tomcolicchio) February 12, 2025
McGovern argued that now that Republicans need every vote to pass anything, “proxy voting” — which they previously railed against — is now permitted, since it is a practical necessity for their party. Recently, Donalds’ vote was cast, though he reportedly was not present.
“So let’s just call this what it is,” McGovern said. “It’s voter fraud under the rules that the Republicans have put into place. Let’s not even get started about who used Donalds’ card to vote for him. They are fraudulently casting votes on the House floor, to make sure they win every time. Whether or not they have enough members here, but apparently the vote of fraud is okay, if they do it. This is unbelievable.”
Long story short: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) led a rule change allowing proxy voting for members during the pandemic; Republicans and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) ended that change after winning the majority in 2023.
McGovern hit hard while levelling his charge of hypocrisy. “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “when Democrats were in charge, when I was chairman of the Rules Committee, we actually put in place proxy voting in response to a worldwide pandemic. Anyone could cast their vote remotely if they had an excused absence. Because it’s 2025 and not 1725… The backlash we got on this from Republicans was insane…The went to the press and said proxy voting was illegal. It’s unconstitutional. And guess what? They did it themselves.”
NOTE on House margins: Democrats in California managed to flip three Republican-held seats, while “holding another competitive open seat targeted by Republicans and special interest groups,” as House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) celebrated in a statement after the elections.
With the aforementioned Democratic Party gains, and the resignations of Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and other House Republicans taking on roles in the Trump administration, Speaker Johnson needs GOP unanimity to move legislation.
That’s a challenge even for congress members who aren’t remotely situated, as evidenced by Rep. Clay Higgins‘s (R-LA) discontent below, as he walks through the Washington, DC snowfall.
Clay Higgins is pissed off at Mike Johnson tonight. pic.twitter.com/9PeelekYoH
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 12, 2025