Who is Rep Mike Johnson, the new House speaker?

Table Of Content

• Jim Jordan defends drawn-out speaker election: “Sometimes democracy is messy”
• Rep. Mike Johnson voted new House speaker
• Trump knifes Emmer, hurting his chances to lock this up
• Six of the eight men running for House speaker voted to overturn the 2020 election results
• Mike Johnson elected House speaker with unanimous GOP support, ending weeks of chaos
• d Republican joins motion to oust Mike Johnson as House speaker

With House Republicans’ majority, comes a newfound power to set the agenda — investigative and legislative. Every new Congress must pass a new set of House rules, and doing so will be the top of the 118th Congress’ to-do list when the House reconvenes Monday. "This is not a dictatorship where one person gets to decide everything for the entire conference. ... So we saw it play out just as it should," De La Cruz told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday. The Texas Republican said that while "of course" lawmakers wanted to be sworn in on January 3, "you saw democracy play out over the last week and come to consensus in the wee hours of the morning, and now we're ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work." She was among several Democratic congresswomen arrested by US Capitol Police in July during an abortion rights protest in front of the Supreme Court.

House tees up votes on Ukraine and Israel aid as Speaker Johnson defies his right flank - NBC News

House tees up votes on Ukraine and Israel aid as Speaker Johnson defies his right flank.

Posted: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Jim Jordan defends drawn-out speaker election: “Sometimes democracy is messy”

Wednesday morning, hours before an expected vote, Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party, said he wasn't technically endorsing Johnson but suggesting the House elect him. Johnson has also co-sponsored legislation by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would make it a crime to provide gender-affirming care to people under 18 years of age. He voted against bipartisan legislation to codify same-sex marriage, which Biden signed into law last year.

Rep. Mike Johnson voted new House speaker

The state’s at-large House seat became vacant after Democratic incumbent Peter Welch — who was first elected in 2006 — decided on an ultimately successful Senate run to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who was himself first elected in 1974. Along with being Vermont’s first female member of Congress, Balint is also the first out LGBTQ person elected to Washington from the Green Mountain State. President Joe Biden spoke with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to congratulate him on winning the gavel in a call Saturday afternoon, according to the White House.

Trump knifes Emmer, hurting his chances to lock this up

Jordan was nominated for the speakership by several conservative hard-liners over multiple rounds of voting last week, but the Ohio Republican maintained his support for McCarthy. During the drawn-out election for speaker, C-SPAN had cameras dispatched around the chamber that captured raw and contentious moments among lawmakers -- a rarity for the public. Two of those key moments were when McCarthy confronted Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on the House floor during the 14th round of voting, followed shortly by Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers needing to be restrained when he also confronted Gaetz. It would be difficult to imagine Republicans defying Trump at the height of his power. Despite the many appeals from Trump, this year’s speakership process was the longest in over 150 years.

Says “he is the reason we are in this majority today,” a nod to his political skills. “We went through a lot to get here, but we are ready to govern and that will begin right away,” Johnson says in his first news conference as speaker. Johnson said Republicans would "dispense with all of the usual ceremonies and celebrations” and get to work. “You’re going to see an aggressive schedule in the days and weeks ahead,” he said. Representative Ken Buck of Colorado said that Mr. Johnson was not involved in postelection efforts to invalidate the results, even though Mr. Johnson was a critical player in those activities.

She won a special election in 2013 to succeed Democrat Ed Markey, following his election to the Senate, and has comfortably won reelection ever since. An earlier version of this article misstated the number of votes Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana received in House Republicans’ internal election to choose a speaker nominee. 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. Eight Republicans backed that move along with Democrats, who remained united behind their own leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York. 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.

Six of the eight men running for House speaker voted to overturn the 2020 election results

It marked a victory for the far right that has become a dominant force in the Republican Party, which rose up this month to effectively dictate the removal of an establishment speaker and the installation of an arch-conservative replacement. Of course, any spending bills would require passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden's signature, and drastic Republican-backed spending cuts would be dead on arrival. His plan envisions beginning negotiations on spending in October, and acknowledges they could continue until April.

Mike Johnson elected House speaker with unanimous GOP support, ending weeks of chaos

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. "We'll be talking about how that's going to be done here in the coming days and it's a top priority." Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise on each of the three ballots during House voting last week, said he plans to back Johnson when the lower chamber convenes to elect a new speaker. Sources told CNN earlier Wednesday that there was a "big push" to bring the bill to the floor once the House elected a new speaker.

"That four threshold is very tough. It's a very tough thing, no matter who it is," Trump said, referring to the number of Republican defections a speaker candidate can afford to lose and still win on the floor with a GOP majority. "I said there's only one person that can do it all the way. You know who that is? Jesus Christ." Donalds voluntarily withdrew from the race after the fourth round, and Hern dropped off the ballot, according to lawmakers. Republican Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota is now the GOP nominee for speaker, besting Rep. Mike Johnson in Republicans' final secret ballot, according to House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik.

The candidates were Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Mark Green of Tennessee, Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Roger Williams of Texas. Republicans held a candidate forum Tuesday night with five members vying to be the next speaker-designee after Emmer withdrew. Although Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was not in the running, he received more votes than Donalds in the final round. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana won in a three-round vote late Tuesday to become the next speaker-designee — the fourth since Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted from the position on Oct. 3. "Due in large part to those usurpations, the election of 2020 has been riddled with an unprecedented number of serious allegations of fraud and irregularities," the House Republicans alleged. "We'll be talking about the support and what's necessary to get it," Johnson said.

Asked Tuesday evening by reporters whether Trump's opposition had been a deciding factor in his withdrawal from the speaker race, Emmer replied, "I made my decision based on my relationship with the conference." Clark served as assistant speaker in the previous Congress, then the party’s No. 4 position in the House. She first joined leadership in 2019 as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik of New York posted on X that Johnson was just voted speaker-designate. “We’ve got to start taking steps to make fundamental change in America,” Comer said about planned votes on congressional term limits and a balanced budget amendment, which were part of the deal to bring along holdout House Republicans to back McCarthy's speakership bid. Independent media coverage of proceedings in the House is normally forbidden, and television networks rely on a government feed for coverage. But when there are special events taking place in the House, such as the election for speaker, independent coverage is allowed. Kevin McCarthy’s seven-year-plus dream to become House speaker finally became reality early Saturday morning. The California Republican’s tumultuous journey concluded after six Republican holdouts voted “present,” allowing him to win on the 15th ballot with a lower majority threshold.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., talks to Meet the Press NOW on the 20th day without an elected House speaker, despite challenges around the world. "Kevin McCarthy set the bar in 15 [rounds of voting]. So anything short of 15 is, is well within the realm of history," Williams said. He expressed anger at the eight who voted to remove him as speaker, blaming them for the chaotic situation Republicans are in. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, said he and other Democrats will need to see changes in how the House operates to facilitate Tom Emmer’s speakership bid. "I hope there’s a change along the way. He doesn’t have the support in the room right now. So dozens of members that won’t vote for him at this point," Banks added, describing the meeting as "a heated discussion." After voting no for Emmer, Banks explained that he wouldn't be able to support "one of the most moderate members" of the caucus.

Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana called Emmer the "single most liberal member" of Republican leadership and accused the "left flank" of the conference of blocking Jordan's nomination. Rep. Ralph Norman said Republicans would expedite the candidate forum by having candidates each give just one-minute speeches before votes begin. House Republicans are expected to vote within their conference for a new speaker nominee this evening. Reps. Roger Williams of Texas and Mark Green of Tennessee are no longer in contention for the speaker nomination after the second round of votes by Republicans. Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark assumed her role as House minority whip in the early hours of Saturday morning, becoming the highest-ranking Democratic woman in the chamber. Both Democrats and Republicans made strides in diversifying their congressional ranks in the November midterm elections, with several historic milestones reached and a record number of women elected.

A vote on the next House speaker won't happen Tuesday night, according to the Democratic Whip's office. Reps. Byron Donalds, Mark Green, Mike Johnson and Roger Williams remain in the speaker race. Johnson continued to earn the most votes with 97, followed by Donalds with 31 votes, Green with 21 votes and Williams with 20 votes. Republicans not on the ballot earned 34 "other" votes, while there were three "present" votes, according to Rep. Randy Weber of Texas. The race now is a head-to-head contest between Donalds and Johnson as the GOP conference moves on to a third ballot, according to Stefanik. Our coverage of the latest developments in the House speaker race continues here.

Two GOP lawmakers described McCarthy as having melted down in conference meetings today because, they said, he is losing his ability to handpick a new speaker. He had two “outbursts” behind closed doors today, the sources say, that were about his objections to quickly moving to a nominating vote for Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., the runner-up to Emmer, the lawmakers said. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, formally announced his bid for speaker after he was named by GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik in a tweet tonight as one of six Republicans running after Emmer dropped out.