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After more than three weeks of infighting, House Republicans have finally picked a new Speaker of the House. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana managed to secure enough votes to win the gavel on Wednesday (October 25).
He defeated the Democratic nominee, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, by a vote of 220-209.
The Republican caucus was thrown into chaos when Rep. Matt Gaetz led a group of hardline conservatives to force out Kevin McCarthy after he pushed through another continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government and avoid a government shutdown.
Republicans initially picked Rep. Steve Scalise as their nominee, but he failed to get 217 votes. The Republicans then tried again, nominating Rep. Jim Jordan, who fell well short of the votes he needed to win.
Then, the Republicans nominated Rep. Tom Emmer following a series of secret ballot votes. However, he withdrew from the race a few hours later after it was clear he did not have enough support to win.
After Emmer's decision to withdraw from the race, the Republicans held a late-night session and settled on Rep. Johnson as their nominee.
Republicans will now move forward trying to pass bills to fund the government by November 17. The House also has to take up bills to provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel and humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
According to CNN, Johnson said that his goal is to vote on a series of separate funding bills but is prepared to allow another short-term funding to keep the government open through January 15 or April 15 if that process stalls.
The short-term bill would give the Republicans more time to craft the single-subject spending bills and work with the Senate to get them passed.