House Republicans on Wednesday morning were racing toward a vote to elect Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana as speaker, hoping to bring an end to a tumultuous three-week stretch of party infighting that has left the chamber paralyzed.
Republicans were rallying behind Mr. Johnson, a little-known social conservative from Louisiana, ahead of a vote on the House floor expected early Wednesday afternoon. He secured the nomination late Tuesday night after the hard right blocked a third nominee for the post, Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
While it was not certain he could muster a majority, Mr. Johnson, 51, appeared to have the best chance of any Republican who has pursued the speakership since the far right forced a vote to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy three weeks ago. In an internal party vote on Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson faced no opposition, though a few Republicans voted “present” and more than 20 were absent.
“We’re going to restore your trust,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference on Tuesday night, flanked by Republicans. “We’re going to do this quickly, this group here is ready to govern and we’re going to govern well.”
Oct. 25, 2023, 12:38 p.m. ET10 minutes ago
10 minutes ago
Kayla Guo
Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, who opposed Jim Jordan’s bid for the speakership in part because he refused to acknowledge that the 2020 election had not been stolen, said he would support Mike Johnson today on the floor. Johnson was a lead architect of the legal objections to certifying the election results.
Highlighting the deep personal and ideological fissures within the House G.O.P. that foiled the conference’s three prior nominees, Buck said Johnson emerged as a unifier because he “has the least enemies in this conference.”
Oct. 25, 2023, 12:39 p.m. ET9 minutes ago
9 minutes ago
Kayla Guo
Buck added that he hoped Johnson would “come to the right conclusion” as Trump’s former lawyers increasingly acknowledge their roles in propagating the lie that the election was stolen.
Republicans were rallying behind Mr. Johnson, a little-known social conservative from Louisiana, ahead of a vote on the House floor expected early Wednesday afternoon. He secured the nomination late Tuesday night after the hard right blocked a third nominee for the post, Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
While it was not certain he could muster a majority, Mr. Johnson, 51, appeared to have the best chance of any Republican who has pursued the speakership since the far right forced a vote to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy three weeks ago. In an internal party vote on Tuesday night, Mr. Johnson faced no opposition, though a few Republicans voted “present” and more than 20 were absent.
“We’re going to restore your trust,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference on Tuesday night, flanked by Republicans. “We’re going to do this quickly, this group here is ready to govern and we’re going to govern well.”
- Because of his party’s slim majority, Mr. Johnson can afford to lose no more than four Republican votes if all Democrats are present and voting for their own leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, as they have consistently. A majority is needed to win the gavel.
- Mr. Johnson, 51, is a lawyer is in his fourth term in the House. He served on former President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment defense team, played a leading role in recruiting House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results and was an architect of Mr. Trump’s bid to object to certifying them in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. An evangelical Christian, he is deeply opposed to abortion rights. Last year, he sponsored legislation that would effectively bar the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity at any institution serving children younger than 10 that receives federal funds.
- The weekslong Republican feuding over the speakership has exposed bitter, often personally animated divisions within the party, and House Republicans have toppled three of their own nominees for the post. But in a sign that gave Mr. Johnson and his allies hope, both mainstream and hard-right lawmakers who previously blocked speaker candidates have said they are prepared to back Mr. Johnson on the House floor.
- Mr. Trump effectively endorsed Mr. Johnson on Wednesday morning, writing on social media: “My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST!”
- Should he win, Mr. Johnson would immediately face a host of challenges that dogged his predecessor, Mr. McCarthy. He would confront a mid-November deadline to pass a measure to fund the government to avert a shutdown. And he would need to lead a conference deeply divided over foreign policy as Congress considers the Biden administration’s $105 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine, and the southern border. Mr. Johnson has 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 he would have to navigate in the coming days as speaker.
Oct. 25, 2023, 12:38 p.m. ET10 minutes ago
10 minutes ago
Kayla Guo
Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, who opposed Jim Jordan’s bid for the speakership in part because he refused to acknowledge that the 2020 election had not been stolen, said he would support Mike Johnson today on the floor. Johnson was a lead architect of the legal objections to certifying the election results.
Highlighting the deep personal and ideological fissures within the House G.O.P. that foiled the conference’s three prior nominees, Buck said Johnson emerged as a unifier because he “has the least enemies in this conference.”
Oct. 25, 2023, 12:39 p.m. ET9 minutes ago
9 minutes ago
Kayla Guo
Buck added that he hoped Johnson would “come to the right conclusion” as Trump’s former lawyers increasingly acknowledge their roles in propagating the lie that the election was stolen.
