If you haven’t heard, the House of Representatives has officially, and finally, elected a replacement for Kevin McCarthy, the only speaker to be ousted midsession. And so far, Louisiana GOP Mike Johnson is making all sorts of friends and enemies – and in all the right places.
Let’s be clear: this has been a long time coming. With the ousting of McCarthy three weeks ago, the House has been in dire need of strong leadership, someone who can unite and not further divide the parties.
Yet, with each passing nomination and then attempt at an election, it seemed the House only became more divided, in particular, the Republican Party, which holds the majority.
Johnson is, in fact, the fourth member of the GOP to have won a nomination for speaker in recent weeks.
But none coming before him could muster the 217 votes needed to actually be elected, proving that the party was fairly split. Meanwhile, the Democrats remained a bank of solidarity, providing their own liberal Hakeem Jeffries as a nomination.
Thankfully, when it came time to vote on electing Johnson, the Republican Party decided that enough was enough, and they needed to get the job done. All House Republicans voted unanimously for the election of Johnson, leaving the vote 220-209, with all Dems voting for Jeffries.
And so far, Johnson has not disappointed.
Within hours of being elected as the Lower House’s leader, Johnson put forth his first piece of legislation – a vow to aid and side with Israel.
As Johnson said to the House floor, “The world needs us to be strong. They need us to remember our creed and admonition… The country demands strong leadership of this body, and we must not waver. Our nation’s greatest ally in the Middle East is under attack. The first bill that I’m going to bring to this floor in just a little while will be in support of our dear friend Israel, and we’re overdue in getting that done.”
🚨BREAKING: HOUSE SPEAKER ELECTED – FIRST BILL IS TO SUPPORT ISRAEL
"The first bill that I'm going to bring to this floor will be in support of our dear friend Israel." pic.twitter.com/RHyxAbVIJ0
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 25, 2023
A standing ovation from the entire House floor was the response he was given.
Of course, his adversary for his newly won seat, Hakeem Jeffries, isn’t exactly happy about Johnson’s election.
In fact, he pretty much declared that the new speaker is just one more in a long list of adversities our nation has endured. He cited such tragedies as the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, of course, January 6, and others. And then he seemed to incite that it was men like Johnson who were responsible for such. Hell, he even said that January 6 happened because of “some in this chamber.”
Clearly, his loss brought up all sorts of rantings and ill-conceived ideologies.
And he’s not happy about Johnson being elected, we probably should be.
