At last, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives successfully elected the 56th Speaker of the House on Wednesday afternoon following multiple rounds of unsuccessful ballots and withdrawn nominations, selecting Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana to lead the lower chamber.
The final roll-call vote saw Johnson land 220 votes while Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 209. Needing only a simple majority, Johnson easily secured his victory as previous opposition to House Republicans' speaker-designees vanished entirely on the first ballot of Johnson's bid.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) took the lower chamber to church with her nomination of Johnson before the roll-call vote finally saw the House elect a speaker after weeks without anyone holding the gavel:
Today is the day that House Republicans will humbly look in our hearts and elect @RepMikeJohnson as Speaker of the People's House.
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) October 25, 2023
A man of deep faith, Mike epitomizes what it means to be a servant leader. A deeply respected Constitutional lawyer, Mike has dedicated his life… pic.twitter.com/JJJBGf4dRS
The vote began just after 1:00 p.m. ET and proceeded through the all-too-familiar roll-call vote of all 429 House members present. Unlike previous speaker votes, there were not the usual votes for non-nominees such as former President Donald Trump, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, or other Republicans serving in the House.
At 1:06 PM, the House began a manual roll call vote on election of Speaker.
— House Press Gallery (@HouseDailyPress) October 25, 2023
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), who became the speaker-designee earlier this week before bowing out just about four hours after winning the support of the GOP conference, proudly cast his vote for Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, receiving a standing ovation from his colleagues.
Rep. Tom Emmer gets a standing ovation after voting for Rep. Mike Johnson. pic.twitter.com/d2ndj9SOJb
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 25, 2023
Wednesday's success for House Republicans came after lawmakers picked Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Tom Emmer as previous speaker-designees in the weeks following the ouster of now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on October 3rd after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) brought a motion to vacate the chair to the floor.
Only Rep. Jordan actually brought his bid to the House Floor for a vote before Wednesday's successful election of Rep. Johnson, but multiple rounds saw opposition to Jordan's candidacy grow each time, and he eventually bowed out. Reps. Scalise and Emmer both withdrew their names from consideration shortly after being designated and before they faced the full House of Representatives.
Now, all eyes turn to Speaker-elect Mike Johnson — who will be officially sworn-in as the first Louisianan to hold the post — as he works to get the House of Representatives up and running again, with a significant battle over government funding dead ahead. A continuing resolution passed under McCarthy averted a government shutdown at the end of September, but only funded the government through November 17.
— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) October 25, 2023
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member