House Elects New Speaker, Mike Johnson
After Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-6) ended his bid for Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-4) was the next nominee in line for Speaker of the House. And finally, the congressional circus is over. Mike Johnson has officially been elected as Speaker of the House, and Congress can get back to work.
Rep. Mike Johnson was elected by the House to become the next speaker as Republicans rallied behind their fourth nominee to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Johnson could afford only a handful of defections from his fellow Republicans in the chamber-wide vote, but unlike prior candidates, there were no defections to his candidacy from his party.
He won 220 votes, needing around 217 to become speaker.
Many pundits and insiders believed that Johnson would have the needed number of votes to be elected Speaker, and they were correct. Perhaps outside pressure finally forced the Republicans to make a definitive move and end the political gridlock.
President Trump also weighed in on the potential of Mike Johnson as the Speaker of the House: “He’s respected by all and that’s what we need. . . . He’s popular, smart, sharp. He’s going to be fantastic.” So clearly, President Trump was on board with the nomination, which may have influenced some votes.
Rep. Johnson has a great conservative voting record – especially in being aligned with the pro-life movement. He’s also very well-liked within the Republican Party, likely giving him a better chance than other conservative Republican nominees who had failed to secure the Speakership. All this to say, Johnson, as Speaker, likely appeased both conservative Republicans and more moderate Republicans.
Either way, it was time for this chaos to come to an end. A Speaker needed to be elected immediately so Congress could move forward and stop the in-House fighting.
Meanwhile, the ACLJ is diligently working to defend our great ally Israel. We told you about the letter of support we sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And we continue to invoke the international community to defend Israel and were successful in getting the EU to condemn Hamas. Further, we continue to speak out against rising antisemitism even here in the U.S.
Yesterday, my dad, ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, unloaded on the media’s disgusting moral equivalency of the innocent Israelis killed by terrorists to the terrorists being killed as Israel defends itself. He’s exactly right – we must stand up to this false narrative. Join our efforts to defend Israel by becoming an ACLJ Champion.
Today’s Sekulow included a full analysis of the vote for a new House Speaker, and ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy Ric Grenell joined the broadcast to discuss California Governor Gavin Newsom’s curious meeting in Beijing with President Xi Jinping.
Watch the full broadcast below:
