‘Very somber’: A NC Democrat sat behind Matt Gaetz as he ousted the House speaker. | Opinion

U.S. Rep Wiley Nickel, D-NC, sat behind U.S Rep. Matt Gaetz on Tuesday as the Florida Republican successfully called for the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Nickel, a House freshman who represents southern Wake County, Johnston County and part of Harnett County, couldn’t disagree more with Gaetz’s right-wing politics, but he and all House Democrats joined Gaetz and seven of his GOP members in voting to remove the Republican speaker.

It was a rare major vote in which Democrats prevailed in the Republican-controlled House, but Wiley said the result was more about sorrow than success.

“It was a very somber occasion,” Nickel said of the moments after McCarthy became the first House speaker in U.S. history to be removed. “There was no one high-fiving or cheering for what’s not good for the institution or for democracy.”

A handful of Democrats could have saved McCarthy, but not one voted against the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair.

“It’s not our job to rescue McCarthy,“ Nickel said. “If the roles were reversed, no one would have expected Kevin McCarthy to rescue Nancy Pelosi “

McCarthy’s camp also didn’t seek help from the Democrats. “They didn’t offer anything,” Nickel said. “If there was a good deal for North Carolina, I would have been the first to listen. They had zero outreach to try to work any kind of deal.”

The Democrats’ unity against McCarthy contrasted sharply with Republican divisions.

“We saw Democrats are united. We are a cohesive party. You saw that in the last Congress. With the exact same margins, we passed a ton of legislation with none of this kind of drama,” he said.

One answer to the splits that have immobilized the House might lie in districts like Nickel’s. The 13th District is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. Nickel, a former state senator and prior to that a member of the national advance staff for President Barack Obama, had to move to the center to defeat Republican newcomer Robert “Bo” Hines, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump.

How the district’s balance shapes Nickel’s politics is clear. While many Democrats are hailing the benefits of President Joe Biden’s economic policies, Nickel said the results aren’t reaching many people in his district.

“In fairness, we have an economy that is just not working for working families. People are not seeing changes in their daily lives,” Nickel said. “People are struggling and we haven’t addressed those issues.”

The unemployment rate is low and inflation is coming down, but Nickel said, “At least in my district, housing prices are through the roof and the larger economic gains are not being felt by those in the middle class.”

Nickel advocates for an independent redistricting process that would end gerrymandering and make it harder for extremists to win office and stay there. But even as Nickel watched the extremist Gaetz throw the House into chaos and bring the nation’s business to a halt, Republican state lawmakers are redrawing district maps that could make Nickel’s district one in which a Democrat cannot win.

That’s where the divide in Congress begins and, with Tuesday’s removal of the speaker, where it leads. Ending gerrymandering would go a long way to making Congress a body where compromise and progress can occur.

“If we have a lot more districts like the one I represent, we’ll get a lot more done in Washington,” Nickel said. “That’s something that would make a huge difference for anybody who cares about finding common ground in Washington.”

Instead there is Gaetz rallying a small group of GOP dissidents to render the unable to address the pressing issues of border security, aid to Ukraine and the needs of struggling Americans.

Republicans’ dysfunction will likely improve Democrats ability to regain control of the House in 2024. But what really needs to prevail is a spirit of cooperation instead of an approach that thrives on division and rewards extremism.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com