“The View” co-host Sara Haines pushed back against colleague Sunny Hostin in a debate about the House speakership Thursday.
Haines argued that House Democrats should work with their Republicans colleagues to elect a speaker who can potentially obtain the required 218 votes. Hostin said Democrats will not do that because Republican “chaos” should “not reign” in the chamber.
“If you can get Democrats to say we will vote for your Republican, if it’s someone we can agree on,” Haines said.
“The Democrats are very united and I don’t think that the Democrats are gonna do that and allow their chaos to reign,” Hostin replied.
“That’s political though, because that does not help the people,” Haines argued. “This is what I’m saying is, the first vote is symbolic. Democrats come together and you show you’re united, awesome. Now, feed on the opportunity to come in and have a say on who this person is.”
“Then Republicans should vote for [Democratic New York Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries,” Hostin interjected, to which co-host Joy Behar agreed. “He’s a moderate.”
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Haines argued that Republicans will not vote in favor of Jeffries, who has repeatedly received the nomination and all 212 votes from House Democrats. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin agreed that the representatives on both sides of the aisle should come together and put forth a nominee that unites the chamber. (RELATED: ‘That’s Not Funny’: Whoopi Goldberg Lashes Out At Democrats Over Speaker Vote)
Haines said Democrats cannot get Jeffries into the speaker’s seat as he cannot obtain 218 votes, and thus Democrats should pick a moderate Republican that they can negotiate with.
“If Democrats had a majority and they were divided, I would say hold onto Hakeem Jeffries. The problem is, they can’t win this chess game with the numbers they have. So it’s like, take the lesser of evils. Your choice is Hakeem, you can’t get him through our numbers. Now, with someone you can have a say in, solve the problem.”
“Remember yesterday I told you to get up, leave the popcorn and get to work? That’s what she’s saying,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg added. “Get to work. Get to work so you know what you want to see so you know how to push it. The more you stand back, the harder it’s gonna be for you.”
Speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy has been unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary votes in the six ballots casted by the House. The chamber adjourned Tuesday and Wednesday after casting three ballots, and intended to cast the seventh ballot Thursday afternoon.
Twenty Republicans have voted against McCarthy by nominating challengers to compete against him. Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Byron Donalds of Florida have challenged him but only received the support from a small percentage of anti-McCarthy representatives.
Donalds switched his vote for McCarthy to Jordan on the third ballot, and voted for himself in the next three ballots after being nominated by Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.