After three weeks of chaos, last Wednesday, the House elected Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson as Speaker, CBS News reported.
Johnson won the support of all 220 Republican members, easily clearing the 215-vote total needed to win the speakership. All 209 Democrats voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Before being sworn in as Speaker, Johnson told his colleagues that the House was “back in business.”
Johnson was named speaker designate after North Carolina Republican Tom Emmer withdrew his nomination after only four hours. The other two previous speaker designees, Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, also withdrew their nominations after failing to garner enough support from the Republican conference to win.
Johnson, who was first elected to the House in 2016, had no role in the Republican leadership before becoming speaker.
Earlier last week, Johnson laid out a plan for passing a series of appropriations bills that won him the support of some of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s detractors. With another deadline for a government shutdown quickly approaching, Johnson will now face the daunting challenge of ensuring that a shutdown is averted while also tackling a requested aid package for Ukraine and Israel.
Speaking to reporters outside of his civil fraud trial on Wednesday, Donald Trump offered his congratulations to Johnson, saying he would make a “great Speaker,” according to The Hill.
Trump claimed that he has known Johnson “for a long time” and described the Louisana Republican as a “tremendous leader” and “tremendous man.”
Unsurprisingly, the former president also took credit for Johnson’s election, claiming he “put out the word” about him “and now he’s the Speaker of the House.”
After last Wednesday’s vote, Johnson said the House would “dispense with the usual ceremonies and celebrations” that typically follow the election of a speaker, saying that the business of the American people “is too urgent in this moment.”
“The hour is late,” Johnson said. “The crisis is great.”
