U.S. Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) is surrounded by fellow members as he speaks to reporters after securing the nomination for House Speaker from the Republican convention on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 24, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana expects to obtained a flooring vote within the House of Representatives Wednesday on his nomination for speaker. Johnson is the fourth candidate Republicans have nominated in simply two weeks, as they scramble to unite a fractured caucus round one chief.
Johnson, the vice chairman of the House Republican convention, is a social conservative who served on former President Donald Trump’s authorized protection group throughout his first impeachment.
Yet the result of Wednesday’s flooring vote was nonetheless unsure because the House ready to meet at midday.
Johnson received the nomination Tuesday with the help of 128 Republicans in a vote at a closed door convention assembly, far in need of the 217 GOP votes he wants to win the speakership on the House flooring.
Johnson later stated that in a second inside vote, after he was nominated, each member within the room had backed Johnson’s bid, together with those that initially voted for different candidates.
The Louisiana Republican’s nomination got here simply hours after Majority Whip Tom Emmer was pressured to abandon his bid for speaker Tuesday.
Emmer’s candidacy suffered a deadly blow when Trump got here out publicly towards him, deriding the bulk whip as a faux Republican.
Trump principally endorsed Johnson for speaker in a put up on Truth Social Wednesday, encouraging House Republicans to vote for the Louisianan.
Emmer was a relative average in contrast to many Republicans within the convention, a incontrovertible fact that drew the ire of key members of his celebration who establish as hardline conservatives.
For instance, the Minnesota Republican voted in 2020 to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory. This September, he voted for spending laws that averted a authorities shutdown.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., candidate for speaker of the House, is seen exterior a House Republican Conference speaker election assembly in Longworth Building on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Johnson’s positions, on the opposite hand, are extra according to the celebration’s base. He beforehand did authorized work for the Alliance Defense Freedom, an ultraconservative advocacy group that litigates to prohibit abortion entry and prohibit same-sex marriage.
In 2020, Johnson publicly doubted Biden’s election victories in Pennsylvania and Arizona, and he filed a authorized temporary in help of a lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Biden’s victories in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Earlier this fall, Johnson voted towards the short-term spending laws that’s preserving the federal government open till November.
The House management disaster has dragged on for almost three weeks after a faction of hard-right Republicans ousted then Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.
The House is paralyzed and not using a speaker, unable to move spending laws because the clock ticks towards a Nov. 17 deadline to keep away from a authorities shutdown. Congress additionally can not move emergency safety help for Israel and Ukraine till the House has a brand new chief.
Johnson has voted towards help for Ukraine previously. He stated earlier this month the U.S. wants to take pressing motion to help Israel, and the House ought to “take all vital motion to finish Hamas ceaselessly.”
This is a growing story, please verify again for updates.