House Republicans Elect Mike Johnson Speaker, Ending Three-Week Deadlock

After more than three weeks without a Speaker following the historic October 3 ousting of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans finally came together to elect their new leader, choosing Congressman Mike Johnson as the 56^th Speaker of the House.

Elected to represent Louisiana's rural 4^th Congressional District in 2016, Johnson serves on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees and served as Chair of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative policy-oriented caucus, before taking his current roles as Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and a Deputy Whip.

Johnson, a former conservative talk radio host and constitutional lawyer, won the gavel on a 220-209 vote and did not lose the support of a single Republican.

"This House Republican majority is united," Johnson said, upon being voted Speaker Designate on Tuesday night. "I am honored to have the support of my colleagues, and what they understand about is this is servant leadership. We're going to serve the people of this country; we're going to restore their faith in this Congress."

Despite holding these positions, Johnson was virtually unknown outside of Washington, with some lawmakers on Capitol Hill remarking that they had not heard of him prior to his ascension to the most powerful position in Congress.

Johnson finds himself in the position in part because more widely known names were rejected by House Republicans, leaving them shy of the 217 GOP votes needed to attain the gavel.

Following the ousting of McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana was elected Speaker Designate by a majority of the GOP Conference, but he never took his candidacy to the floor after hard right members made it clear they would not offer their support.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, founding chair of the hard right Freedom Caucus, was the next to pursue the position, losing three times on the House floor after centrists and other results-oriented members refused to offer the conservative firebrand their votes.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer became the party's third Speaker Designate. However, the Minnesota Republican's candidacy lasted less than five hours after conservatives voiced disapproval over his support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which recognizes the validity of same-sex marriages, and his vote to certify the 2020 election.

Former President Donald Trump offered a fatal blow, coming out against Emmer on Truth Social, leading him to terminate his bid.

Johnson, who previously lost the nomination to Emmer, voted against both the Respect for Marriage Act and certifying the 2020 election. Moreover, Johnson played a critical role in efforts to overturn the election, leading the amicus brief, signed by over 100 House Republicans, that supported a Texas lawsuit aiming to invalidate the election results in four swing states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Louisiana lawmaker also refused to offer his support for the bipartisan 47-day funding bill, a critical vote that ultimately sparked the conservative rebellion resulting in McCarthy's ousting.

"We adore him, and I think he's gonna do a great job for the country and for the right reasons," conservative Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, who led the effort to oust McCarthy, told reporters following Johnson's nomination vote. "Mike Johnson is not bought and paid for. Mike Johnson does what is right."

With House Republicans still reeling from a divisive three weeks, Democrats already plan to go on the offensive by making Johnson's record known to Americans in critical swing districts that span across states like New York, California, Arizona, and other areas where Republicans carried districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020.

Johnson, who boasts far less governing experience than the three men nominated before him, faces an intense schedule as the government nears a federal shutdown deadline on November 17 and the Senate prepares to pass singe bill providing aid for America's embattled allies Israel and Ukraine, an issue likely to divide House Republicans who largely support Israel but are nearly split in their support for Ukraine.

A vocal supporter of Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022, Johnson voted in April of that year in favor of a bill formalizing military aid to the European ally. But he quickly turned against continuing that aid, voting just one month later against a $40 billion aid package. Since then, he has maintained that there should be more oversight and transparency regarding U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Viet Shelton, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party's chief House campaign arm, said Johnson's victory represents the GOP's embracing of a hardline agenda, as Johnson has supported legislation to restrict abortion and the Republican Study Committee, of which he is still a part, has suggested curbing entitlements.

"Mike Johnson is Jim Jordan in a sports coat," Shelton told Newsweek. "Electing him as Speaker represents how the Republican conference has completely given in to the most extreme fringes of their party and embraced an agenda that promotes a total, nationwide abortion ban, espouses conspiracy theories, and cutting Social Security and Medicare."