Pelosi: Democrats ‘Open’ to Helping GOP Elect Speaker

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi signaled Saturday there could be “an openness” among at least some House Democrats to voting for a Republican speaker on the floor — and she suggested the GOP turmoil could help put Democrats back in charge come 2017.

“I think in our caucus there is interest and support. There’s an openness to a bipartisan approach to this,” Pelosi said in an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival . . .

“Do you want him to be totally destroyed in his caucus if I mentioned who I thought would be good?” Pelosi said when asked by the Texas Tribune’s Abby Livingston about the prospects of her casting a vote for a Republican speaker. “That would be the end of him” . . .

Boehner’s eventual announcement of his intent to resign at the end of October rendered those discussions moot, but until that point, members of the House Freedom Caucus were counting on Democrats voting “present,” or even in favor of Pelosi, as a way of keeping Boehner from getting the 218 votes he needed to keep his gavel.

As conservatives drew nearer to forcing the crucial vote on the House floor, Democrats stayed silent on what their strategy would be — whether they would help protect Boehner from an insurrection or sit back and watch the Republican Conference implode. Pelosi’s statement Saturday was the first indication of what Democrats might have done in that situation. (Read more from “Pelosi: Democrats ‘Open’ to Helping GOP Elect Speaker” HERE)

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