Speaker saga ends with election of Louisiana conservative Mike Johnson, backed by Wisconsin GOP reps

WASHINGTON – House Republicans on Wednesday elected Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the chamber's next speaker, ending a three-week period of paralysis in which three other top Republicans were blocked from the job by members of their own conference.

Johnson, who on Tuesday night became the fourth Republican nominated for the speakership this month, was elected speaker on a 220-209 floor vote Wednesday afternoon. All five Wisconsin Republicans present supported Johnson. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, on a visit to Israel, was the only Republican to miss the vote.

No Republican voted against Johnson Wednesday.

"It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent," Johnson wrote in a statement moments after his election. "Our House Republican Conference is united, and eager to work."

Wednesday's vote was the latest, and perhaps final, development in an otherwise tumultuous month for a fractured House Republican conference that began when California Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the speakership on Oct. 3. In the weeks since, Republicans nominated and promptly shot down Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the chamber's No. 2 Republican, before nominating hard-right Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who ultimately lost three votes on the House floor and was dropped as speaker-designate.

Republicans then nominated House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota for the job Tuesday afternoon. But he, too, dropped out about four hours later after pushback from the right flank of his party. Former President Donald Trump attacked Emmer as a RINO, or Republican In Name Only, and some members took issue with some of Emmer's past votes, including his support for codifying same-sex marriage.

Wisconsin's six House Republicans, however, largely remained behind their party's four nominees throughout the month. The delegation lined up behind Scalise and Jordan before they were rejected, and most members present Tuesday indicated during a secret ballot vote that they would vote for Emmer on the floor.

"After supporting Jim Jordan for Speaker last week and Byron Donalds yesterday, I united in support of @RepMikeJohnson today," Tiffany posted on X Wednesday afternoon. "All good things take time, and the House got a conservative leader in Mike as a result of this process."

Rep Scott Fitzgerald Wednesday afternoon called Johnson an "honest" member of Congress who has "strong conservative values."

"It's been a tough few weeks of building consensus, but I am proud of the candidate our conference has coalesced behind," Fitzgerald said.

The majority of the delegation had expressed frustration with their party's inability to elect a speaker, which until Wednesday prevented Congress' lower chamber from acting on legislation. Some, like Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville, laid the blame at the feet of the eight Republicans who moved with Democrats to oust McCarthy in early October.

With the election of Johnson, a 51-year-old social conservative, the House now must quickly act on a number of domestic and foreign priorities. Congress faces a Nov. 17 deadline to pass 12 government funding bills and avert a shutdown. And lawmakers are expected to aid Israel in its fight with Hamas, as well as move to send more support to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.

President Joe Biden last week announced a $106 billion supplemental package that would provide aid to Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific, as well as beef up security at the southern border. While a bipartisan majority of Congress supports continued aid to Ukraine, the White House faces pushback from a contingent of Republicans who oppose the continued aid requests for the country.

Notably, Johnson opposed supplemental aid packages to Ukraine as recently as late September. Wisconsin's delegation was divided on that Sept. 28 vote — Fitzgerald, Tiffany and Van Orden voted against the $300 million supplemental.

“My concern is that every day we waste with this circular firing squad, the Senate gets closer to jamming us with an omnibus and a supplemental," Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher said Wednesday of the Republicans' speaker fight, referencing government spending bills and upcoming aid package proposals.

After Wednesday's vote, Gallagher congratulated Johnson and listed countering the Chinese Communist Party, supporting Israel and passing government funding legislation as next steps for the chamber. "It's time ti unify, deliver on the promises we made to the American people, and finally get back to work," he said.

Mike Johnson opposed certifying 2020 Biden election

Just how Johnson, a member of the Judiciary and Armed Services committees, will work with House Democrats remains to be seen.

Johnson is a close ally of Trump and opposed certifying the 2020 election — a detail he shrugged off when a reporter attempted to ask him about it Tuesday night. "Next question," he replied.

House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar on the House floor moments before the vote called Johnson a main "architect" of Republican's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Johnson led an amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit to overturn the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Aguilar also suggested the "Republican-manufactured chaos" of the last three weeks was a Republican attempt to find an extreme leader.

"This has been about one thing," Aguilar said. "This has been about who can appease Donald Trump."

On Wednesday morning, Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore noted Johnson celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that protected access to abortion, writing on X: "The current Republican Speaker candidate wants ZERO abortions, and wants to take his agenda nationwide."

Moore added in a subsequent post: "Rep. Mike Johnson's extreme forced-birth agenda is a threat to women's bodily autonomy."

And Madison Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan before Wednesday's vote issued this statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"It looks like he's conservative enough to please the extremists in their conference and get the House back open," Pocan said, "but that's bad for the rest of Congress and America who doesn't share his values."