WASHINGTON — House lawmakers on Wednesday elected little-known Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the 56th speaker of the House, capping more than three weeks of dysfunction and chaos on Capitol Hill.
It's a stunning rise for the conservative Donald Trump ally and low-ranking member of the GOP leadership team who is now second in line to the presidency. While known for his affability, Johnson is arguably the most ideologically conservative person to serve as speaker since Newt Gingrich in the 1990s, and he played an instrumental role in the GOP's effort to overturn the 2020 election.
After weeks of disarray, the GOP demonstrated remarkable unity: All 220 Republicans cast their vote for Johnson, while all 209 Democrats voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
"We want our allies around the world to know that this body of lawmakers is again to our duty stations," Johnson, 51, said in his address to the House chamber after Jeffries embraced him and handed him the gavel. "Let the enemies of freedom around the world hear us loud and clear — the people’s House is back in business.”
Johnson's election represents a temporary cease-fire in a GOP civil war that began when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and seven other GOP rebels teamed with Democrats to oust Republican Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s office.
In the ensuing weeks, various factions of the 221-member GOP Conference clashed over who should succeed McCarthy, paralyzing the lower chamber and preventing any legislative work from proceeding amid a new threat of a government shutdown and ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Johnson's work will start immediately. He'll have to work within his party and with the Biden White House to figure out how to fund the government before money runs out on Nov. 17 and on delivering critical aid packages to U.S. allies, Ukraine and Israel.
President Joe Biden called Johnson to congratulate him, the White House said.
The GOP's process for picking a new speaker resembled the arcade game whack-a-mole. Republicans first nominated the No. 2 leader, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who dropped out less than 36 hours later after opponents blocked his path to 217 floor votes.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was up next, but after three failed floor votes, he, too, bowed out of the running. The party next selected Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 Republican, as their pick, but he realized he couldn't amass 217 votes either after Trump came out against him, and he quit just hours after winning the nomination.
Johnson was able to unite the fractured conference through a combination of good timing, his conservatism and his reputation for having a pleasant demeanor. Johnson began to emerge as a viable option as his colleagues were growing increasingly fatigued from the drawn-out speaker crisis; he had the backing of Trump and his close allies on the right; and the well-liked, four-term lawmaker — someone with few political enemies in the Capitol — represented a fresh face amid a plethora of long-serving, veteran leaders.
“A friend to all and an enemy to none ... And above all, Mike is kind,” House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said as she nominated Johnson before the vote.
Unprompted, Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., also described Johnson as a rare person in Washington with no enemies.
"He's a really nice guy. He's a true family man. He's a man of faith, gets along with everybody. It doesn't mean he's not principled or conservative — clearly he is," LaHood said in an interview. "But I think he was viewed as the least objectionable person in the process, and he was in the right place at the right time."
During the first hearing of the GOP's special committee probing the weaponization of government, of which he's a member, Johnson leaned over and asked Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla.: "What are you interested in? What do you want to do on this committee?"
"Mike is a tremendous listener," Cammack said. "And at a time when everyone is elbowing each other and trying to get ahead and it is very much an Alpha-male-type-dominated situation, he is very quietly rallying people, acting as that beacon that we can all rally around."
As GOP Conference vice chairman, a post he has held since 2021, Johnson is the seventh-ranking Republican on the leadership team. His elevation to speaker from such a low-level post is extremely rare and reminiscent of former Illinois Republican Rep. Denny Hastert's rise in 1999 from chief deputy whip to speaker, in the wake of Georgia Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich's resignation as speaker.
Johnson, who has represented his northwestern Louisiana district since 2017, makes history as the first speaker elected from that state. His election also means that the top two Republicans in leadership — himself and Scalise — now hail from the Bayou State.
A protege of both Scalise and Jordan, Johnson followed in both of their paths: All three served in the state Legislature before winning seats in Congress, and all served as chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, using it as a stepping stone to leadership positions. Johnson, a former talk-radio host and a lawyer with expertise in constitutional law, served under Jordan on the Judiciary Committee and chaired the panel's subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government.
A Trump ally, Johnson was one of the leaders of the GOP effort to keep the former president in power after his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020. Johnson led the amicus brief, signed by 100 Republicans, backing a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the 2020 election results in four swing states won by Biden.
In fact, The New York Times called Johnson “the most important architect of the Electoral College objections."
Before handing Johnson the gavel, as is customary, Jeffries, the Democratic leader, called the new speaker and father of four "a family man, a hard-working man, a Baptist man, a Southern man, a son of a firefighter's household."
But in accepting the Democratic nomination for speaker, Jeffries rattled off moments when America's democracy was tested, including when thousands of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to stop Congress' certification of Biden's victory.
"We faced adversity right here in the House of Representatives when on Jan. 6, 2021, a violent mob of insurrectionists, incited by some in this chamber, overran the House floor as part of the effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power," Jeffries said to jeers from Republicans and cheers from Democrats.
"Every time we faced adversity," Jeffries continued, "the good news here in America is that we always overcome."