WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republicans finally chose a Speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday after a lengthy vacancy and messy election process.
On October 25, 2023, Congressman Mike Johnson (LA-04) was elected as the Speaker of the House. As a Congressman, Speaker Johnson represents the northwest and western regions of Louisiana. Prior to his election to Congress in 2016, Speaker Johnson was an attorney and served in the Louisiana State Legislature from 2015 to 2017.
Johnson, a Republican is reportedly a far-right politician who is vehemently opposed to abortion, gay marriage, and played a key role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election easily won by Joe Biden over Donald Trump.
Elected by the whole of the House of Representatives, the Speaker acts as leader of the House and combines several roles: the institutional role of presiding officer and administrative head of the House, the role of leader of the majority party in the House, and the representative role of an elected member of the House. The Speaker of the House is second in line to succeed the President, after the Vice President.
Johnson replaces Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted earlier this month by far-right MAGA Republicans who now have demonstrated a stranglehold on the party in the House. As yet another government shutdown looms, a spending confrontation over funding the war in Ukraine will be front and center for Johnson. A budget for the federal government will need to be passed in coming weeks to avoid the shutdown, and compromise between the Senate (controlled by Democrats) and the House will have to be formed.