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

Table Of Content

• Democrats were told not to leave Washington, according to a House staffer
• McCarthy, All Carrots and No Sticks, Grinned His Way to the Speakership
• Rep. Lauren Boebert nominates Rep. Kevin Hern for speaker (again)
• Jordan loses third round, with 25 GOP defections
• Standing ovation on House floor after Byron Donalds, Hakeem Jeffries nominated to speaker
• Deal emerges that could give McCarthy a path to the speaker's gavel

The new speaker has been in Congress since 2017 and has no experience in the House leadership. The House is expected to reconvene for floor votes on Wednesday afternoon as Republicans seek to elect the next speaker, three weeks after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted from the position. Johnson was the fourth House Republican to be nominated by the conference in the last three weeks, after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) withdrew as the speaker-designate just hours after being nominated. The House passed a resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas – the first measure to come to the floor after Speaker Mike Johnson was elected earlier Wednesday following three weeks without a speaker.

Democrats were told not to leave Washington, according to a House staffer

There is now a secret ballot underway in the Republican Conference's meeting about whether Jordan should drop his bid to be the next House speaker, according to two lawmakers in the room. One opponent of Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid called on him to resign after a closed-door meeting with House Republicans. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R.-Calif., said he will continue to run for speaker of the new Republican majority as he faces opposition within his party.

Vote Count: Mike Johnson Elected House Speaker After Three-Week Vacancy - The New York Times

Vote Count: Mike Johnson Elected House Speaker After Three-Week Vacancy.

Posted: Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

McCarthy, All Carrots and No Sticks, Grinned His Way to the Speakership

Republicans remain in disarray as House leader Kevin McCarthy attempts to persuade a handful of his GOP colleagues to support his bid for speaker, with some political insiders weighing how the intraparty chaos could influence voters who are looking ahead to 2024. "Yes," McCarthy told a reporter when asked if he would have the votes to become speaker Friday night. Now, as the House seeks a new speaker, the 118th is the first ever Congress to need two speaker elections with multiple ballots. Rep. Jim Jordan, who on Friday lost his third round of voting and later lost in a secret ballot, is no longer a nominee.

Rep. Lauren Boebert nominates Rep. Kevin Hern for speaker (again)

Republicans now believe he has the support he needs to win and all eyes are on Rep-elect Matt Gaetz. Several members voted “present,” including Reps-elect Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado., Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. With a 15th and final vote late Friday evening, the House of Representatives appears to be on the path to electing Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to be its next House Speaker. Continue reading here for what you need to know going into the speaker’s election. Instead, he has spent his time in Congress fighting to get retribution for his political allies, to kill legislation and eventually to maneuver his way to becoming the top Republican on some of the chamber’s most powerful committees.

House speaker says he won't back change to rule that allows single member to call for his ouster - CBS News

House speaker says he won't back change to rule that allows single member to call for his ouster.

Posted: Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Jordan loses third round, with 25 GOP defections

But, Scalise rebuffed a request from Jordan to give a nominating speech on the floor on Tuesday. And after Jordan failed to secure the speakership on the first ballot, Scalise was noncommittal about helping Jordan further, a source added. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has failed to secure the necessary 218 votes to win the speakership. Said he would support uniting behind a moderate candidate – or a ‘unity candidate’—to expedite the election process after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the House speaker spot in a fifth round of votes on Wednesday. House Republican leadership invited all elected members to join a conference call Friday morning to discuss the latest deal on the table aimed at delivering Kevin McCarthy the 218 votes he needs to become the next House speaker.

The House abruptly adjourned Tuesday following a third failed vote for McCarthy. Lawmakers will return to the chamber at noon on Wednesday after the overnight recess. Kevin McCarthy’s most vocal opponents on Wednesday morning gave no indication they were any closer to accepting him as House speaker, just hours before the House was set to reconvene and a day after three failed votes. Trump weighed in on the issue after McCarthy lost three straight votes on Tuesday, failing to pass the 218-vote threshold. Twenty Republicans opposed his speakership when the House adjourned Tuesday, and Republicans will resume voting later Wednesday. Ocasio-Cortez, a far-left progressive, raised the possibility that Republican leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., may have to enter into negotiations with Democrats after he failed to win the majority vote needed to become speaker.

Byron Donalds invokes Reagan when asked if he trusts Kevin McCarthy

And by the time the 11th vote closed on Thursday, he'd made a few others, including lowering the threshold to allow just one member to call for a vote to oust him if he does become speaker. We're not even halfway through the alphabet, and Republican nominees Hern and Jordan have 2 and 4 votes respectively, which is not good news for McCarthy. Farther along in alphabetical order, several more lawmakers switched their votes for McCarthy, even after he appeared to fall short of the threshold needed. Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana also voted for McCarthy for the first time today. He said he believes the House is on the verge of transferring "significant power from leadership to individual members and the American people," and that he's taking input into consideration as he continues to negotiate in good faith. That means lawmakers have the option to vote McCarthy, Jeffries, present or other — and "other" can include candidates who didn't get a nominating speech.

Standing ovation on House floor after Byron Donalds, Hakeem Jeffries nominated to speaker

With Mr. McCarthy elected, he immediately turned to swearing in the 434 members of the House to officially seat the 118th Congress. Republicans announced that they would wait until Monday to consider a package of rules for the chamber, which is expected to enshrine many of the compromises Mr. McCarthy made to win his post. The protracted fight foreshadowed how difficult it would be for him to govern with an exceedingly narrow majority and an unruly hard-right faction bent on slashing spending and disrupting business in Washington.

Johnson was elected 22 days after McCarthy was ousted from the speakership, in what proved to be a bitter three-week process for the House GOP. In a letter to colleagues earlier Wednesday, Johnson outlined his first priority will be trying to pass the remaining spending bills that have so far languished in the House one by one. After three weeks without a speaker, the House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. It's not at all clear whether McCarthy and his allies will be able to lock down the votes -- and the longer the fight drags on, the more imperiled his speakership bid has become. “I think Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed," he told reporters this week.

In the meantime, Democrats nominated Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and boasted that they were “united” in their support for the minority candidate. Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the 218 votes he needs to be the next speaker in either of the first two votes on Tuesday. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., nominated McCarthy to be speaker at the start of the third round of voting. He said Republicans were elected to help Americans coping with inflation and energy insecurity, and said the best way to do that is to vote for McCarthy. The result set up required fourth vote in the House, which is likely once more to feature McCarthy and Jordan as the only two choices for speaker from the GOP side.

A GOP source said that some members only committed to backing Jordan for speaker on the first ballot so opposition to the Ohio Republican could grow in future votes. Jordan is now meeting with key chairmen and top Republicans in House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office as they try to lean on holdouts and make offers to win their support. Jordan’s allies were hoping that Scalise supporters would help whip fellow Scalise allies who voted against Jordan. But Scalise’s allies feel like they did far more to rally around Jordan than Jordan did when Scalise initially won the nomination last week. Jeffries also said that conversations between senior Democrats and Republicans have “accelerated” in recent days and that it’s his hope they will continue to do so tonight. 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.

Members-elect of the 118th Congress were expected to vote to adjourn the body after the sixth vote to allow GOP lawmakers to meet and try again to reach some agreement on a consensus candidate. Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who previously voted for McCarthy, voted "present" in the fourth, fifth and sixth series. Rep.-elect Patrick McHenry was hosting one of several meetings on the House speaker race Wednesday night. Republicans are still deciding who will be the House speaker for the 118th session of Congress, but as Rep-elect. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., says he is getting closer to the gavel some members are starting to wonder about potential retribution for voting against him. McCarthy has discussed granting the HFC more positions on the House Rules Committee as well as lowering the threshold for forcing a vote to remove the speaker to just one majority-party lawmaker.