Republicans pick ‘novice’ as 4th speaker nominee
If elected, Mike Johnson would be the least experienced speaker in more than a century
Daily TribuneIf elected, Mike Johnson would be the least experienced speaker in more than a century
Republicans have named a fourth candidate for speaker of the United States House of Representatives and hope to end two weeks of party division and a leaderless lower chamber.
Louisiana's Mike Johnson won an internal party vote just hours after previous nominee, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, buckled under a backlash led by former President Donald Trump and announced his withdrawal.
Johnson — the vice chairman of the conference but a relative novice in politics — lost out to Emmer earlier in the day but quickly threw his hat back in the ring after his leadership colleague bowed out.
Only 128 of Johnson's colleagues voted for him in the final round of balloting, according to US media — with 29 preferring his rival, Florida lawmaker Byron Donalds, and another 44 casting their votes for someone else entirely.
Like Johnson, Emmer had baselessly sown doubt over the validity of Biden's 2020 election win over Trump, but supporters of the former president were angered by the majority whip voting to certify the result.
Trump took to his Truth social website to brand Emmer a "globalist RINO" — short for "Republican in name only."
If Johnson were to succeed where his colleagues have failed, he would be the least experienced speaker in more than a century, having never chaired a committee or held a top leadership role.
Moving up to the House from state-level politics only in 2017, Johnson could find himself presiding over a government shutdown in three weeks unless he can cut a 2024 budget deal with much more seasoned negotiators in the White House that is acceptable to his party.
He would also be expected to lead the deeply fractured conference through upcoming fights over funding for Ukraine and Israel in their conflicts with Russia and Hamas.
Tuesday's disarray marked two weeks since the party's first nominee to replace Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, withdrew as it became clear he was nowhere near the 217 votes needed to be elected.
Hard-line Trump ally Jim Jordan, the next nominee, flopped three times on the House floor as successively larger tallies of Republican opponents joined the Democrats to reject him.
