Trump Ally Mike Johnson Elected House Speaker Three Weeks After McCarthy Ouster

By Staff, Agencies

The Republican-led US House elected Rep. Mike Johnson as the new House speaker on Wednesday – a major leadership change that comes three weeks after the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy.

Johnson, a vocal supporter of ex-President Donald Trump and a key congressional figure in the failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election, will now take the reins of the bitterly divided House Republican majority and faces the looming threat of a government shutdown next month.

Johnson’s elevation puts an end to the paralysis the House had been stuck in after McCarthy was pushed out by hardline conservatives – an unprecedented move that plunged the chamber into uncharted territory. Republicans tried and failed three separate times to coalesce behind a new speaker nominee before ultimately uniting around Johnson, a conservative lawmaker who has so far had a relatively low profile on the national stage. In a remarkable show of unity following weeks of fierce GOP infighting, the Louisiana Republican was elected with 220 votes and no Republican defections.

The new speaker will now face a litany of pressing issues. Government funding is set to expire on November 17, and the GOP-controlled House will need to work with the Democratic-led Senate to avert a shutdown, setting up an early leadership test for Johnson. Lawmakers must also decide whether to send further aid to Ukraine and ‘Israel’.

Hours after the speaker election, the House passed a resolution in support of the ‘Israeli’ war on Gaza. The measure passed with overwhelming bipartisan support by a vote of 412 to 10.

Johnson, fresh off his victory on the House floor, said he will pursue an “aggressive schedule” in the weeks ahead and alluded to the chaos that had paralyzed the House and distracted from the GOP agenda.

Johnson was first elected to the House in 2016 and has previously served as vice chairman of the House Republican Conference. A Trump ally, he supported objections to Electoral College results when Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win on January 6, 2021 – the day a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol seeking to overturn the results of the election. He also lobbied fellow House Republicans to support a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election. A reporter was loudly booed by House GOP members for asking Johnson after he became the speaker-designate if he stands by his decision to support overturning the election.