(SNews) – Republican Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) has just been elected the next speaker of the House in a floor vote.
The House of Representatives chose Johnson in a floor vote to serve as speaker on Wednesday.
The election of Johnson comes after the historic ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the role over three weeks ago.
House Republicans selected Johnson as their fourth speaker nominee late Tuesday, as Slay News reported.
The GOP’s past three nominees to lead the chamber all dropped out of the race.
Johnson was elected House speaker by a chamber-wide vote Wednesday afternoon.
It came following weeks of closed-door negotiating within the House Republican Conference after McCarthy was removed on October 3.
The House Republican Conference initially voted to select House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) as the nominee for speaker.
However, Scalise later withdrew after winning on a secret ballot.
Then, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) was selected as the speaker nominee in a second conference vote.
The conference later voted to remove Jordan after he failed three House-wide votes.
House Republicans considered a move to empower Speaker Pro-tempore Patrick McHenry.
The move would have given the interim speaker expanded power through January.
Nevertheless, that effort also failed.
By Tuesday, George Soros-linked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer had been selected as the House Republican Conference’s nominee for speaker.
However, Emmer had dropped out of the race by Tuesday afternoon ahead of a formal floor vote.
Emmer’s dropout came shortly after a blistering attack on Truth Social from President Donald Trump.
Trump slammed Emmer as a “globalist RINO” – Republican In Name Only – and warned House GOP that electing him speaker would be a “tragic mistake.”
After Emmer’s dropout, Johnson, along with Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL); Charles Fleischmann (R-TN); Mark Green (R-TN) all were possible nominees.
Johnson won the nomination Tuesday night.
Trump didn’t formally endorse any of the candidates in the next round.
He posted on his Truth Social account that he “could never go against any of these fine and very talented men, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory.”
But in that post, Trump “strongly” urged House Republicans to vote for Johnson on the floor and “get it done fast.”
Later Wednesday morning, Trump said Johnson would be a “fantastic speaker.”
Trump noted that non-swamp Johnson is “respected by all and that’s what we need.”
“He’s popular, smart, sharp,” Trump said ahead of the floor vote Tuesday.
“He’s going to be fantastic.
“I think he’s going to be a fantastic speaker.”
Johnson has been in politics since 2015 when he was elected to the state House, where he stayed until 2017.
The son of a firefighter, Johnson was elected to Congress in the 2016 election and serves on the House Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.
Johnson is currently in his second term as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference.
The Louisiana Republican previously served one term as the influential Republican Study Committee chairman.
Johnson is an ally of President Trump and defended him during the Democrat-led House impeachment hearings.
He also filed an amicus brief co-signed by 100 House Republicans to support Texas litigation seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
He was the Chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee at the time.
“President Trump called me this morning to let me know how much he appreciates the amicus brief we are filing on behalf of Members of Congress,” Johnson posted on Twitter/X on December 9, 2020.
“Indeed, ‘this is the big one!’”
The lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, tried to buy more time with the Supreme Court to allow investigations of purported voting issues to continue before the final electoral vote in the four swing states.
The Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit.
On several other issues, Johnson has aligned with the most conservative lawmakers in the caucus.
Last month, he voted against H.R. 5692, the Ukraine Security Assistance and Oversight Supplemental Appropriations Act, which was passed.
The bill appropriates federal dollars to assist Ukraine’s military in its defense against Russia and establishes an inspector general’s office to oversee aid.
Additionally, he opposed the temporary spending measure, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR), aligning with 90 other House Republicans, at the Sept. 30 deadline.
He also supported measures to bolster border security within the CR, which aimed to restrict eligibility for asylum seekers.
The bill did not garner enough support to pass.
In June, Johnson voted in favor of a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Joe Biden.
Prior to joining Congress, Johnson worked as a lawyer and was the senior spokesperson for the conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom.
This was the second-longest period the House has ever gone without a speaker. It lacked a speaker for two months in late 1855 and early 1856.
McCarthy’s ouster came after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a measure against him known as a motion to vacate, accusing him of breaking promises he made to win the speaker’s gavel in January.
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