Republicans Could Help Elect AOC the Next House Speaker [OPINION]

The GOP picked up House seats in the 2020 election and the Democrats are continuing to fight amongst each other. The GOP can give Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez their votes for Speaker of the House.

It would be a marriage of convenience. It would be strategic bipartisanship. It would give both sides of the aisle an opportunity to make their case to the public and it would be a two-year experiment.

I have seen this happen up close in Massachusetts. In the '90s, the Massachusetts House of Representatives had a fight for Speakership. It was going to be a fight between the conservative wing and the left wing of the House Democrats. Tom Finneran was the conservative and Richard Voke was the lefty. Representative Voke had the votes in the Democratic caucus to win and that was the traditional route to power.

The Massachusetts Republicans had zero hope of winning the Speakership, but they traditionally put up a candidate for the final floor vote and the choice of the Democratic caucus would ultimately prevail.

But Finneran walked over to his GOP colleagues and made a deal. He gave them some concessions on policy and he gave them an opportunity to have the GOP votes matter in the fight. The GOP representatives didn't have a chance at electing one of their own to the Speakership, but they could be the deciding votes in a fight between Democrats.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy doesn't have the votes to be the next Speaker, but he does have the votes to elevate New York Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to the Speakership if she wants it. The progressive wing of the House Democrats combined with the House Republicans have enough votes to make the outspoken leader of "The Squad" the face of the House Democrats.

AOC is ambitious and she doesn't believe she is the problem that other Democrats believe she is for their party. She is courageous in her beliefs and she is a strong political operative. If President Trump's legal challenges or recounts lead to him being re-elected, she will be the leader of the Democrats. If Joe Biden is indeed the next president, she will be negotiating with him and she will have real power to push her socialist Green New Deal agenda on the new administration.

Let America see what AOC and her Democrats will do with real power for the next two years and see what the voters do in 2022.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.