The Revised Speaker’s Name: Mike Johnson, a Little-Known Social Conservative and a Superstition ally to Tom Emmer
The House has been in a state of uncertainty and chaos since Oct. 3, when rebels forced a vote to oust Mr. McCarthy as speaker. Republican supported the move along with Democrats who remained united behind their leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries. Republicans had cast aside two previous winners of their closed-door nominating process — Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio — before settling on Mr. Emmer.
House Republicans chose and then quickly repudiated yet another of their nominees for speaker on Tuesday and rushed to name a fourth, pressing to put an end to a remarkable three-week-long deadlock that has left Congress leaderless and paralyzed.
Representative Mike Johnson, a little-known social conservative from Louisiana, emerged on Tuesday night as the latest contender for the post after Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3 House Republican, dropped his bid only hours after securing the nomination. The G.Os.P. and Mr. Emmer in particular were left in a state of disarray by the backlash from the right.
But by late Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson appeared to have put together a coalition that brought him closer to capturing the speakership than any candidate has been since hard-right rebels deposed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy three weeks ago. Though it was not certain he had the votes to be elected, he said he planned to call for a floor vote on Wednesday at noon.
In a show of unity, the Republicans nominated Mr Johnson and he stood beside them. The majority of the House Republican’s are united.
The choice of Mr. Johnson is the latest in a string of dramatic changes in House Republicans leadership, from one hard-line conservative to another and now another.
Like Jordan, he is an ally to former President Donald Trump, who praised the new speaker Wednesday saying “he’s a tremendous leader.” Johnson was one of the voting members against certifying the 2020 election results. He was on the team that defended Trump in the impeachment inquiry. And he supported a lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in four swing states.
Republican reporters pressed Mr. Johnson about his efforts to overturn the election as he smiled and shook his head.
The House Set to Vote on 4th Republican Speaker Nominee: A sad commentary on governance and spending battles for a new speaker
Legislation sponsored by Mr. Johnson last year would prohibit any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in institutions that receive federal funds for children under 10 years old.
He has also opposed continued funding for the war in Ukraine, which has emerged as a bitter fault line in the G.O.P. and in the spending battles that any new speaker will have to navigate in the coming days.
There were five more Republicans who were vying for the nomination by Tuesday evening. Mr. Johnson won after several rounds of voting over Representative Donalds of Florida, who is part of the Freedom Caucus.
Republicans have ignored their top leaders over the past few weeks. The chamber has been frozen for the better part of a month as Republicans feud over who should be in charge, even as wars rage overseas and a government shutdown approaches.
“It’s a pretty sad commentary on governance right now,” said Representative Steve Womack of Arkansas, adding: “The American public cannot be looking at this and having any reasonable confidence that this conference can be governed. It is sad. I am sad. I’m heartbroken.”
I believe he is now aware of his mistake, because he claims to be pro-Trump but who can ever be sure? Mr. Trump wrote. Has he changed just because it takes to win? The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that’s not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!”
The House G.O.P. has a new ethos and members act according to their preferences and ideologies instead of respecting the victors of the internal elections.
Some hard-right Republicans consider themselves a distinct political party from their more mainstream, business-minded colleagues, whom they accuse of being in a “uniparty” with Democrats.
Source: House Set to Vote on 4th Republican Speaker Nominee
Mike Johnson on Twitter: His first day in the life of a Republican Speaker and an advocate for abortion decriminalization in his home state of Louisiana
Mr. Emmer called Mr. Trump and praised him over the weekend in an effort to make up for lost time. But Mr. Trump made clear he had not been won over.
There was a mistake in the article about the number of votes Representative Mike Johnson received in the election to pick a speaker nominee. He got 128 votes, not 129.
His hardline conservative record is being celebrated by many in his home state of Louisiana, who believe that it’s an important moment in the state’s history.
The state’s GOP Gov.-elect Jeff Landry praised Johnson, saying he’s “well-liked by everyone.” Congratulating him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Landry stated, “he has the work ethic and tenacity to lead our country in this prestigious position. Louisiana is proud!”
The first Speaker from Louisiana, Johnson was able to get the support of his fellow GOP members and win the top leadership position after a single floor vote. Since Newt Gingrich was the speaker from 1995 to 1999 there have been no speakers from the South.
His election means two of the top leadership positions in the House — speaker and majority leader — will be filled by Louisianans. Steve Scalise, who dropped his candidacy for speaker two weeks ago, is the majority leader of the House.
In a speech to his colleagues on the House floor upon his election, Johnson said he would work to decentralize power in the House and he emphasized the importance of getting the House running again.
“People are going to come to know and love what he represents because he fights for things bigger than himself and people who have been ignored for way too long,” said the congressman in a press conference.
He received support from Republicans in his home state, and he was praised by the governor of Louisiana who said that Louisianans always find a way to work together.
Still, others have been less enthusiastic. Democrats don’t know if he can work across party lines and are concerned about his record on abortion restrictions.
Rep. Don Beyer, D-VA., described Johnson on X as, “one of the biggest anti-choice extremists in Congress” saying that Johnson “wants to ban all abortions without exception — to the point of criminalization with prison sentences.”
A strong opponent of abortion rights, earlier this year, Johnson posted on X, then known as Twitter, that his home state would work to “get the number of abortions to ZERO!!”
When the law was introduced, NPR’s Laurel Wamsley reported that the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, decried it, stating, “Extremist House Republicans like Mike Johnson are continuing their assault on LGBTQ+ Americans’ ability to live their lives openly and honestly.”
Johnson represents Louisiana’s 4th Congressional district, which covers most of the western and northwestern parts of the state, including Shreveport. His record is considered just as reliably conservative as that of Jordan. But Johnson is often described as an under-the-radar lawmaker who has a nicer demeanor than Jordan.
What will we learn from the saga of the House of Representatives when the Biden Administration was dominated by a bipartisan support group?
The pro-Trump Republican is expected to work closely with Scalise and other GOP leaders in the coming weeks to get the House back on track after the chamber came to a standstill as Republicans wrestled over choosing a new speaker.
“We will fight the harmful policies of the Biden Administration, and support our allies abroad,” Johnson said. And we will restore sanity to a government desperately in need of it. Let’s get back to work.