Republican Rep. Mike Johnson elected as speaker of the House

Rep. Mike Johnson is pictured. Johnson received every present Republican vote to be elected speaker of the House. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

By Catherine Hamilton
Oct. 25, 2023 11:30 a.m.
The United States House of Representatives elected Rep. Mike Johnson as the next speaker of the House on Wednesday.
Johnson – a Republican from Louisiana – received 220 out of the 429 cast votes, winning the support of every Republican in the House, except for one who was absent. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, received 209 votes from Democrats.
The election comes after the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and three failed nominations throughout the month of October.
McCarthy was ousted following the choice of eight far-right House Republicans to join Democrats in voting to remove him from the position, according to the New York Times.
[Related: California Rep. Kevin McCarthy becomes first House speaker to be ousted]
Johnson was elected to the House in 2016 and is currently the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference. He played a large role in the failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election, according to the New York Times.