A fighting Democrat: Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett protests lack of democracy in House Speaker vote

Four years ago, U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett made history when she became the first delegate ever to be on a team of impeachment managers in American history.

But as a delegate representing a U.S. territory rather than a state, Plaskett was not able to cast a vote on the House floor to impeach President Donald Trump for the second time following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

And Plaskett made quite an impression as an impeachment manager. She said Trump "fanned the flame of violence and it worked."

As a delegate, Plaskett has all the powers of a House member except the right to vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries named her the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government where she frequently crossed swords with its chair, ultra right-wing Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

In her opening statement at the subcommittee's first hearing, Plaskett said, "I'm deeply concerned about the use of the select subcommittee as a place to settle scores, showcase conspiracy theories and advance an extreme agenda that risks undermining Americans' faith in our democracy."

Indeed, Plaskett is a fighting Democrat and we need more of them .

And she had something about the lack of democracy in Congress on Friday after the roll call vote to elect the House Speaker in which the incumbent Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, initially fell two votes short of the 218-member majority needed to win re-election.

Plaskett rose from her seat and addressed the House clerk. "I have a parliamentary inquiry."

"I note that the names of the representatives from American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia  were not called, representing collectively 4 million Americans, Mr. Speaker, collectively the largest per capita of veterans in this country."

Democratic House members rose from their seats to give her a round of applause. Republicans responded with boos and catcalls, prompting Plaskett to declare: "Have you no respect."

The clerk responded: "Delegates-elect and the resident commissioner-elect are not qualified to vote. Representatives-elect are the only ones qualified to vote in the election of a speaker, as provided in Section 36 of the House Rules and Manual, the speaker is elected by a majority of the members-elect voting by surname.”

Plaskett then made her point before she was gaveled down and her microphone cut off.

"This body and this nation has a territories and a colonies problem," Plaskett said. "What was supposed to be temporary has now effectively become permanent. We must do something about this problem so that these 4 million … We all have a voice."

The ballot was held open until Johnson was able to persuade two of the three GOP House members who did not initially support him to fall in line. And he took the gavel as Speaker.

There are currently five delegates in the House representing the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A resident commissioner represents Puerto Rico.

And this indeed is a flaw in our democracy. Just compare the U.S. with France, which has 13 territories outside Europe with 2.8 million inhabitants. The overseas territories account for 4.1% of the population of the French Republic, and have proportional representation in the 577-member French National Assembly (27 deputies) and 348-member Senate (21 senators).

The French territories include Reunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Polynesia, French Guiana, New Caledonia, Saint Basrthelemy and Saint Martinm and Saint Pierre and Miquelon.