Trump-backed Mike Johnson elected House speaker after 22 days - live
New Speaker Mike Johnson is a hard-right Christian conservative opposed to LGBT+ and reproductive rights
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House Republicans overwhelmingly elected Rep Mike Johnson (R-LA) to be the next speaker of the House after 22 days where the House of Representatives had no leader amid turmoil across the globe and the need to pass spending bills next month.
Mr Johnson, the former deputy whip for House Republicans, won 220 votes on the floor after House Republicans coalesced around him on Tuesday evening. His ascent came after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer dropped out a mere four hours after the House Republican conference nominated him to be speaker.
Republicans from all factions of the conference cheered Mr Johnson and whistled on the floor, chanting his name.
After conservatives, led by former president Donald Trump, revolted against Mr Emmer, he removed himself from the running and after another contest, Mr Johnson emerged victorious.
A former attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, Mr Johnson is considered an arch-social conservative staunchly opposed to abortion. Earlier this year, he introduced legislation that would have made it illegal to transport a person under the age of 18 across state lines to obtain an abortion without parental notification.
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VOICES: Tom Emmer was doomed before his speaker bid even began
Good evening and welcome to the 21st day of the House Republican speaker thunderdome!
The latest victim: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
The Minnesota Republican barely got to enjoy the fact he emerged out of a nine-man (and only men ran for the office) Royal Rumble to win the House GOP conference’s nomination to be speaker of the House before he ultimately ended his bid. This came three weeks to the day since Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) turned the House of Representatives into Mojo Dojo Casa House and booted Kevin McCarthy.
After an all-night candidate forum on Monday and a process of elimination ballot in the Longworth House Office Building, Mr Emmer emerged as the winner.
On paper, he should be a perfect choice for the gavel. An ally of Mr McCarthy, he led the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2020 when they significantly weakened Democrats’ majority in the House and finished the job in 2022. As whip, he should ostensibly be a good vote counter.
Christie lashes out at House GOP ‘embarrassment’ over speaker chaos
Chris Christie berated members of his own party for their failure to elect a Speaker of the House on Monday as the GOP enters its fourth week of chaos in the lower chamber.
The GOP presidential candidate appeared on MSNBC where he urged the chamber to pick a Republican and unify around them before the essential functions of government were threatened by the stalemate.
As of Tuesday, the Republicans seemed no closer to selecting a leader. GOP Majority Whip Tom Emmer was nominated by his caucus in a closed-door session only to see his bid begin dissolving minutes later, with more than two dozen holdouts materialising against him. Potentially his greatest opponent: Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, who denounced Mr Emmer in a social media posting on Tuesday.
Mr Christie, who has hinged his bid for the Republican nomination on a total repudiation of the far right and Donald Trump, took aim at that chaos the evening prior.
“We’ve gone through two nominees of the party since Kevin McCarthy. It’s an embarrassment ... to the country and the party,” said Mr Christie.
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