Mike Johnson is House Republicans’ next speaker.
The fourth-term Louisianan sailed to victory with 220 votes, more than the 215 he needed to be elected speaker on the House floor. The final vote on the first ballot was 220-209.
Johnson’s win marked a stunning turnaround after more than three weeks of chaotic limbo in the House following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the demise of three other failed speaker candidates. He did not lose a single GOP vote from lawmakers who were present; Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is in Israel and did not attend the balloting.
Before his election as speaker, Johnson served as vice chair of the GOP conference — but was seen by hard-line conservatives as somewhat outside the mainstream party leadership mentality that some of them faulted McCarthy for embodying. He was first elected in 2016 after practicing constitutional law for two decades.
“You know, sometimes new is better,” House Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Wednesday. “I think he starts off with trust. And he starts off with an understanding that he’s going to have to move quickly and we don’t have time for a lot of fun and games here.”
Johnson will lead the chamber as it faces some of the toughest challenges of this Congress, chiefly an impending government funding deadline and escalating war between Israel and Hamas. Just before the vote, Johnson said that a resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel would be the first item acted on during his speakership.
The new speaker has laid out an aggressive schedule to move appropriations bills to Republicans, which includes action this week on a spending bill covering energy and water-related agencies as well as three more spending bills next week. He also pitched canceling next year’s August recess if all 12 spending bills are not advanced through the House by then.
He will take the gavel from Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) who served as acting speaker after the House voted to oust McCarthy from the post earlier this month.
Johnson voted against the stopgap patch to keep the government open that ended up tanking McCarthy’s speakership. But he did vote to retain McCarthy as speaker back on Oct. 3, and he has also proposed a similar short-term spending patch designed to avoid a shutdown next month.
Ahead of the vote, some Republicans accused McCarthy of trying to meddle behind the scenes to try to scuttle Johnson’s speakership chances — and potentially even launch himself back into the office.
“Kevin McCarthy did everything he could to scuttle Mike Johnson. … But we smoked him out,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who orchestrated McCarthy’s ouster.
McCarthy has repeatedly denied that he wants to be speaker again, however, and he endorsed Johnson ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
Louisiana is now a clear winner of this Congress, claiming the top two spots in House GOP leadership: Johnson is in the speaker’s chair and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) serves as majority leader.
“Mike is an honest broker and his word is his bond. There’s a lot of built up trust in the conference with him. People want to follow a great leader. He’s going to inspire people,” Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) said.
Johnson, 51, was one of eight House members who served on Trump’s defense team during the former president’s first impeachment trial in the Senate. He played a key role in assembling the House Republican case for objecting to certification of Trump’s 2020 loss on Jan. 6, 2021 — recruiting colleagues to support that effort and helming a legal brief seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
The elevation of Johnson marks a hard turn to the right for the House GOP. He has voted against legalizing same-sex marriage, is in favor of a national abortion ban and recently led a hearing on limiting gender-affirming care.
Jordain Carney, Daniella Diaz and Anthony Adragna contributed to this report.
