Ryan Reelected Speaker with Near GOP Unanimity

Published January 3, 2017 7:58pm ET



The House formally reelected Paul Ryan to the speakership Tuesday in a vote that was tamer than what the GOP majority has endured in recent years, with only one of his party colleagues defecting.

The Wisconsin Republican secured the support of 239 representatives, and just one of his members, Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, chose differently. Massie’s selection was Floridian Daniel Webster, who was a candidate in 2015 to take the speaker’s gavel from the outgoing John Boehner partway through Congress’s session. Webster received only nine votes that year after Ryan entered the race as the consensus pick, a development that occurred upon current House majority leader Kevin McCarthy withdrawing his name from consideration.

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