Frost defends Democrats amid Speaker drama: ‘We’ve extended the olive branch’

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) defended Democrats in the midst of the Speaker drama Tuesday, suggesting that they have already offered a way to move forward after the House GOP failed to elevate its three separate nominees to the Speakership.

“We want to work with Republicans to come up with a bipartisan deal to have shared governance to ensure that when a majority of both caucuses are behind something that it can happen in this Congress. We want this to happen,” Frost told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on Tuesday. “And we’ve extended the olive branch.”

The House GOP has struggled to unite behind one candidate for the Speakership after eight Republicans joined with Democrats to to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the position more than three weeks ago. On Tuesday evening, they voted to put forward Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as their fourth nominee.

The House is expected to hold another floor vote Wednesday.

House Democrats have offered to work on a bipartisan way forward, but did not say whether formal negotiations had taken place. Democrats took to social media Tuesday to urge their Republican colleagues to find a solution, potentially a bipartisan one, for the Speakership.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said earlier this month that there had been “informal conversations” on the subject, saying it was up to Republicans to kickstart a formal conversation on the topic.

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post earlier this month, Jeffries said a “bipartisan coalition” of government was still possible.

“In recent days, Democrats have tried to show our colleagues in the Republican majority a way out of the dysfunction and rancor they have allowed to engulf the House,” he wrote at the time. “That path to a better place is still there for the taking.”

But, Frost reiterated that Republicans were not interested in taking help from the Democrats.

“Republicans have said time after time that they have no interest in working with Democrats,” he said Tuesday. “And so when I hear people say, ‘What about the Democrats, when are they going to step up,’ everybody needs to know that we’ve extended the olive branch.”

“We’ve said it in almost every interview, and Republicans have gone on national TV and said they don’t want our help,” Frost added.