Democratic leaders blindsided by two members who bailed out Johnson 

House Democratic leaders were blindsided by the two rank-and-file members who crossed the aisle on Tuesday to help Republicans advance a series of GOP messaging bills heading into the midterm elections.

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the Democratic whip, said she received no advance notice from either Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) or Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) that they intended to support a Republican rule governing the GOP bills. 

“That came as a surprise,” Clark said shortly after the vote. 

Clark said she has not spoken to the lawmakers since they cast their votes, but she was clearly frustrated with the pair for flouting an unwritten rule of House politics: The minority party virtually always unites against the majority party’s rules, even if members of the minority support the underlying legislation. 

“It’s one of the rules of being on a team, is that we........

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