With House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) election, the House of Representatives is able to function legislatively as a possible government shutdown is weeks away.

Thank you for following along with the Washington Examiner’s live coverage of the House speaker election today, and be sure check back at www.washingtonexaminer.com for more coverage of Congress.

After being paralyzed for more than three weeks, the House of Representatives is set to resume legislative activity under newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

The chamber will consider House Resolution 771, which proclaims that the United States will stand “with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists.”

Notices from both Democratic and Republican whips said that a vote on the resolution will be the last vote of the day.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was sworn in as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson’s swearing-in ceremony ends the 22-day period of the House being without an elected speaker after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted.

A new nameplate has been installed at the House speaker‘s office in the Capitol Building following the election of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

The new sign above the entrance to the office says “Speaker of the House Mike Johnson,” and it was installed shortly after the vote was finalized.

The sign from McCarthy’s tenure as speaker was removed last night after Johnson was selected as the GOP’s fourth speaker-designate.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, celebrated House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) election by saying the “difficult process” was “well worth it.”

“Eight of us had the audacity to listen to the American people and vote to vacate former Speaker McCarthy. We told the American people they deserved someone who would be honest and represent their interests, not Washington’s,” Mace said. “There is no denying this was a difficult process, but one that was well worth it. While we fully understand we won’t always see eye to eye on everything with Mike Johnson, today the American people can finally be proud of their speaker. Let’s get to work, Mr. Speaker!”

Johnson was elected 22 days after McCarthy was ousted from the speakership, in what proved to be a bitter three-week process for the House GOP.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) received unanimous support from the House Republican Conference on the floor on Wednesday. Johnson received unanimous Republican support in the roll-call vote on Thursday, with only a few members voting present.

The last time a Republican speaker saw unanimous support was in 2011, when former House Speaker John Boehner defeated Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in a 241-173 vote. Boehner’s bid was essentially guaranteed prior to the vote, when the midterm elections returned Republicans to control of the House.

Republicans elected Mike Johnson (R-LA) to serve as the 56th speaker of the House after three weeks of the lower chamber sitting at a standstill and unable to complete any legislative business.

The Louisiana Republican won the gavel after surpassing the majority threshold needed to secure the gavel, beating House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) 220 to 209. Johnson was able to clinch the speakership on the first round of votes, unlike his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who went 15 rounds before becoming speaker in January.

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The House of Representatives has held a total of 19 voting rounds to fill the top job in the chamber this year. GOP speaker-designate Mike Johnson (R-LA) has seen the smoothest path to a victory thus far, as he appears to be on his way to holding the gavel after just one floor vote. Republicans have rejected three other speaker nominees within the last three weeks.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) dropped out of the speaker’s race last week when he lost a vote of confidence during a closed-door meeting after losing a third round of votes on the House floor. In January, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) secured the speaker’s gavel after being elected on the 15th ballot.

Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) received a bipartisan standing ovation after House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) told the North Carolina Republican, “I notice a little bit more of a smile on your face today.”

Aguilar delivered the nominating speech for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

McHenry has served as temporary speaker for 22 days following the historic ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Talks of expanding the limited powers to McHenry so the chamber could conduct legislative business were floated before House Republicans moved to nominate Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA).

The full House vote is underway.

The House of Representatives has 429 members in attendance for the full floor vote as Republicans work to elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as speaker of the House. Johnson can only afford to lose five votes total.

The absent members include Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Lou Correa (D-CA), with Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) saying he is en route to Washington, D.C., after his wife had surgery this morning.

AP

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was manipulating the House speaker situation, working to draw out the race as the House of Representatives has been without a speaker for 22 days.

“The paralysis was conducted, manipulated by the former disgraced speaker. He was orchestrating and manipulating the entire situation,” Mace told Fox News.

Mace, who was once an ally of the former speaker, joined Democrats and seven other Republicans in voting to remove McCarthy from the House’s top job three weeks ago.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee compared Republican speaker-designate Mike Johnson (R-LA) to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), saying the Louisiana Republican is just as extreme as the failed speaker hopeful.

“Mike Johnson is Jim Jordan in a sports coat. Electing him as speaker would represent how the Republican Conference has completely given in to the most extreme fringes of their party, embraced an agenda that promotes a total, nationwide abortion ban, espouses conspiracy theories, and cutting Social Security and Medicare,” a DCCC spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.

Democrats are attacking Johnson for his loyalty to former President Donald Trump, who previously threw his support behind Jordan and is now supporting Johnson.

The House is expected to reconvene for floor votes on Wednesday afternoon as Republicans seek to elect the next speaker, three weeks after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted from the position.

House Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) to be their fourth speaker-designate in the last three weeks on Tuesday night. His nomination comes just hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) withdrew as the speaker nominee after it became evident he could not secure the 217 votes needed on the floor.

Click here to watch the vote live.

With Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) visiting Israel during the House speaker race, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) can only afford to lose three Republican votes on the floor on Wednesday to become the next speaker of the House if all members in attendance vote for a candidate.

Johnson’s chances to win over the majority of the House, 217 votes, are looking good, but he’ll still need as much Republican support as possible. If Johnson fails to secure the majority, then the process begins again with nominations and a roll-call vote.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said House Republicans elevating Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the House speaker nominee proves that the MAGA movement still has a hold on the Republican Party.

“The swamp is on the run, MAGA is ascendant,” Gaetz said Wednesday morning on Steve Bannon’s Real America’s Voice. “If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”

Gaetz, who led the drive to boot McCarthy as speaker three weeks ago, praised the fourth lawmaker to secure the GOP’s nomination for speaker as an “honorable, righteous, righteous man” who will “do great things for the country.”

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) is confident he’ll get the 217 votes needed to secure the speaker gavel during the first round of voting.

Speaking before taking his bid to the House floor on Wednesday, Johnson was asked if he believes he’ll prevail, replying, “I do, I do, on the first vote.”

House Republicans nominated Johnson Thursday evening, their fourth nominee in three weeks, after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) dropped out when it became clear his path to speaker was derailed by attacks from former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) threw his support behind the latest House speaker nominee, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), before the vote Wednesday on whether to confirm Johnson as speaker.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, McCarthy said Johnson “is a friend, fighter, and principled conservative who can get the job done. He has my full support as Speaker. We’ll keep working together to put our country first and fulfill our Commitment to America.”

Speaker-designate Mike Johnson (R-LA) shared his plans to avert a government shutdown as the 45-day stopgap passed last month comes closer to expiring.

Johnson conceded that “another stopgap measure is needed to extend government funding” and suggested an extension until Jan. 15, 2024, or April 15, 2024. However, he also outlined a schedule for getting the separate appropriations passed through the House.

The Louisiana Republican also proposed that for fiscal 2025 appropriations, members of Congress stay in session in August until all funding for the next fiscal year has been passed. Typically, the House goes into recess during the month of August.

Johnson was one of 90 House Republicans who voted against the stopgap bill to fund the government through mid-November. The stopgap bill was cited as a reason for Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) successful motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership.

Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is hoping a House speaker will be elected on Wednesday.

McHenry, who was thrust into the role after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted from the speakership earlier this month, was asked if it would be that last day for him as speaker pro tempore, to which he replied to reporters, “That’s the goal.”

“It’s been 23 days. I’m done with predictions,” McHenry said when asked if he thinks Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) can win the speakership.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accused former President Donald Trump of ordering House Republicans to prevent the election of House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) as speaker in favor of a “top election denier.”

“The twice-impeached former president ordered House Republicans to stop Tom Emmer and elevate a top election denier. Is anyone surprised that they complied?” Jeffries said in his first post since Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was elected GOP speaker-designate.

Trump had posted on Truth Social on Tuesday that voting for Emmer, who he described as “Globalist RINO,” would be a “tragic mistake.” Shortly after the post, Emmer bowed out of the speaker race, and Johnson was elected the Republican speaker nominee.

Johnson is viewed as a more conservative member of the House Republican Conference, earning a lifetime score of 90% from the conservative group Heritage Action.

Most recently, Johnson was one of 90 House Republicans who voted against the stopgap bill to fund the government through mid-November. The stopgap bill was cited as a reason for Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) successful motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership.

The Louisiana Republican has come under fire for his stances in the aftermath of the 2020 election, which saw President Joe Biden defeat then-President Donald Trump. Johnson was the leader in organizing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, challenging the electoral processes of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

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(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) is a four-term congressman and has represented Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District since 2017. He has served as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference since 2021 after serving as the head of the Republicans Study Committee from 2019 to 2021.

He serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Armed Services Committee. If he wins the speakership, Johnson will be the least experienced presiding officer elected since Kentucky Rep. John Carlisle in 1883.

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One day after tanking House Majority Whip Tom Emmer‘s (R-MN) bid to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House speaker, former President Donald Trump expressed support for Rep. Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) speaker bid but stopped short of endorsing him.

Trump thanked congressional Republicans who had remained divided for weeks over who should replace McCarthy before choosing Johnson and claimed that “even the Fake News Media is impressed with what took place.”

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Republicans believe they’ve found a speaker who can overcome the weeks of division bred by Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) dramatic ouster from House leadership.

Their fourth nominee, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), could unite the conference when the chamber holds a floor vote shortly after noon on Wednesday. No members voted against him in a roll-call vote held after he clinched the nomination.

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Two House Republicans who voted “present” during a roll-call vote of the House Republican Conference Tuesday night now say they will support Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Mark Amodei (R-NV) both said they will support the Louisiana Republican during the floor vote at 12 p.m. after talking with him following the conference meeting last night.

“After speaking with him this morning, I’m committed to vote for Mike Johnson when we go to the floor of the House,” Massie said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “He has my full support.”

Amodei also told CNN that he will support Johnson after speaking with him on Tuesday night.

Rep. French Hill (R-AK), the only other Republican to vote present, has not made his stance on Johnson known. The Louisiana Republican can only lose four Republicans in the full House vote to be elected speaker.

(Alex Brandon/AP)

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) was the third Republican selected as the GOP’s speaker-designate after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) bowed out in previous weeks.

However, the Minnesota Republican’s speaker bid only lasted a couple of hours as fierce opposition to him began to materialize within the House Republican conference.

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The House is scheduled to convene at 12 p.m. to hold a speaker vote. The vote will be the fourth held in the past two weeks and the first since Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) failed to be elected speaker on Friday.

The House GOP held a conference roll-call vote late Tuesday evening, after Johnson was elected speaker-designate, to gauge support for the Louisiana Republican, and only three members voted “present,” while 23 were absent. Republicans appeared confident in a late-night press conference, with Johnson saying, “The House Republican majority is united.”

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House Republicans selected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as their next speaker nominee, hoping to end the weekslong saga that has left the lower chamber at a standstill.

Johnson won the nomination after three rounds of voting Tuesday evening, making him the fourth House Republican to be elected speaker-designate in the last three weeks. The victory comes just hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) withdrew as the speaker-designate after it became evident he could not secure the 217 majority votes needed on the floor.

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