USA, Mike Johnson Elected New Speaker Of House of Representatives

After 22 days of paralysis and 3 “burned out” candidates, the US House of Representatives has a new speaker. This is Mike Johnson, an ultra-conservative and evangelical Christian, very close to Donald Trump.

Republicans unanimously elected the 51-year-old Louisiana congressman since 2016, who passed with 220 votes, while Democratic-backed representative Hakeem Jeffries received 209 votes.

This ended weeks of political chaos, in which three Republicans – Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmert – tried to reach the necessary consensus after Kevin McCarthy was disqualified on October 3 by a group of “insurgents” from his own party, angry because he avoided a shutdown by extending government funding into November. For 22 days, the House was effectively paralyzed, with the more extreme wing of Republicans rejecting more moderate candidates, and the more moderate wing rejecting more extreme candidates.

Johnson confided his first statements to X: “It is the honor of a lifetime to have been elected the 56th Speaker of the House. It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent. The urgency of this moment demands bold, decisive action to restore trust, advance our legislative priorities, and demonstrate good governance. (…) We will advance a comprehensive conservative policy agenda, combat the harmful policies of the Biden Administration, and support our allies abroad. And we will restore sanity to a government desperately in need of it. Let’s get back to work.”

Former President Donald Trump explained that he contributed to Johnson’s election: “He will be an excellent Speaker of the House, and we were thrilled to help him.” In his speech in the House of Representatives, Johnson said the first bill would be aimed at supporting Israel, but did not mention Ukraine. He himself has opposed aid to Kiev in the past.