House elects Speaker Mike Johnson

By
Suzanne Downing
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40

On a vote of 220 to 209 of Wednesday, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected House Speaker on the House floor. He won on the first vote.

All Democrats, including Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola, voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is part of the far-left of the Democratic Party.

Johnson is a constitutional lawyer from Shreveport. He is succeeding more-moderate Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was ousted earlier this month by the more-conservative wing of the Republican caucus, who joined with Democrats to bounce him from the role he had held since January.

Three other nominees had failed to get enough votes in the Republican majority caucus to win on the floor.

Johnson released a statement:

“It is the honor of a lifetime to have been elected the 56th Speaker of the House. 

“Thank you to my colleagues, friends, staff, and family for the unmatched support throughout this process. 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. 

“Our House Republican Conference is united, and eager to work.  As Speaker, I will ensure the House delivers results and inspires change for the American people. We will restore trust in this body. 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.”

40 COMMENTS

  2. I watched all this take place in real time, via a live stream, and witnessed Mary Peltola happily chirp her vote for the Communist Hakeem Jeffries.

    I want to once again thank Palin, who, desperately seeking and craving attention, jumped into the race on the last day, split the vote, and gave this traitorous little wretch our only seat in the House of Representatives….

    (We MUST get rid of RCV!)

    • Nick Begich is just as much to blame. Him and Sarah both acted like children and refused to agree to one or the other bowing out for the better chance against Mary

      • What complete and total B.S.
        Sarah was never a serious candidate, did little traveling/campaigning, and as always, still refused to educate herself about any of the issues, but as she has done for the entirety of her political career, relied on inane slogans that fit on a bumper sticker, instead of being able to ever give a comprehensive answer to any question(s) from the voters.

        Begich was the polar opposite. A very serious man and candidate, fully self educated on all the issues, and relentlessly traveled around the state meeting voters and answering all of their questions with detailed answers.

        Our state screwed itself when it gave Sarah any attention at all, and for electing the chirpy little Communist, Peltola…..

      • I have to completely disagree with your opinion Tim. At the Republican convention I watched Sarah display a total lack of understanding of any issues – her comments during the candidate forum consisted entirely of waiting for NB3 to speak and then saying, “I agree with Nick”. Nick is the real deal – let no one spoil his election next year.

    • I admit to being mystified as to why RCV gets the blame for Peltola getting elected. At the end of the day everybody was able to vote for her or Mr. Begich one on one. That means that Palin didn’t “split the vote” in the same way that her running as a third party candidate would. I understand the Palin’s campaign may have soured some people on Begich but that’s not the fault of RCV. The only “downside” I see to RCV is it diminishes the ability of either major party to control who we can vote for. I think that’s a good thing.

      • You display a distinct lack of understanding of rcv, which the demrats don’t share – they stayed disciplined enough to only have one candidate, while Sarah the debutante diva insisted on her popularity vote.

      • About the effect of RCV on the outcome of that election- I could be wrong, but I recall the following events: people who voted for either Nick or Sarah ranked Mary as the second choice, instead of the other Republican candidate. So when the votes were published, RCV showed more votes for Mary than she ever would have received without RCV.
        Plus, RCV is a totally opaque system, impossible to verify. RCV + ballot harvesting + Dominion and other electronic voting machines = easy vote fraud and unverifiable election outcomes.
        It was a sad day for Alaska when RCV was implemented, and I support the efforts to get rid of it.

    • McCarthy, who is a relative moderate, was ousted by the Democrats, with virtually all Republicans voting to keep him as speaker. Now the Democrats get their wages — an even more right-wing speaker. Enjoy.

      • Do you mean Sequoia Capital Kevin ? Don’t be fooled by the games! Time will tell what games these b——s are playing now. He’s already talking financing more Ukraine Corruption. For those that haven’t figured out the funneling of your tax dollars to this scheme to collapse this country, ask yourself ONE Question: Can we afford to pay for another country”s Pensions, Government Operations and REBUILDING while our BORDER is WIDE OPEN to millions of fighting age males that are from country’s that hate us ??????? WAKE UP and stop just swallowing the swill that comes from MSM.

    • It could be much worse — he could have been a radical leftist extremist, like Jeffries.

      (Then, adding the “liar” moniker would be unnecessary and redundant.)

    • Sanctos,
      I’m now serving #26 at my psychiatric clinic.
      Two for one special today only, treating Trump Derangement Disorder.

      • Sanctos could bring in his transexual partner too and save money for his own reassignment surgery. A good deal.

  7. If you get a chance, research how McCarthy was responsible for the 3 week shutdown by his quietly torpedoing everyone who stepped forward in an attempt to reassume the Speakership. Although many have derided Gaetz for what he did, what he did was expose the swamp for what it is. Well played. Now, hopefully these clowns can get to doing what they are there for. -Cheers

    • Gaetz may label himself a “conservative” (tru-con no less), but the reality is he’s a grasping poser hungry for power and notoriety. Beware of this a__hole. He is no hero.

  8. It’s Victory for those who love our country. Johnson is god fearing, principled, measured and a conservative. He has his eye on a focused budget. Thank you Mike Johnson and a big thanks to Matt Gaetz for making this happen. It’s a better day in America.

  9. Although he is apparently pro-Trump, I note that he is not a member of the Freedom Caucus. We will see how that sorts out. According to some, he opposes more funding for Ukraine. I might support him for that position alone. Many more questions need to asked and answered before any more US money goes to Ukraine.

  11. I don’t believe anyone will or would do better than Johnson can, but Congress has come up with a process (being generous in calling it that) which is designed to keep the over-spending going. Honest people suffer from this federal over-spending, but the media will call anyone an un-American goat if there is an attempt to move even an inch toward less over-spending.

    No state is more guilty with its delegation than Alaska. We push our delegation to bring back money to waste. The interest on the debt derived from the wasteful spending exceeds the US defense budget. I hope Johnson turns out to be someone who will stand up and do what’s right even if it means shutting down government for many months! In the long run it’s that kind of courage that is needed.

    • I agree with much of what you say. It has long been my contention that ongoing massive federal appropriations for Alaska do a lot of harm through inhibition of the development of private economic activity. Frankly, when the government owns most things, and most economic activity is a result of government spending, subsidies and incentives, things look a lot like the old Soviet Union (eventually).

      That said, federal government shutdowns do not advance the cause. The better approach, and advocated by Speaker Johnson and most Republicans is through “regular order”. This means systematic consideration of appropriation bills that set new, and mostly lower, spending levels for agencies and programs. We will see and hear much more about this in the months ahead. A note of caution: Legislating involves compromise. But the important part is setting a new direction which limits the overspending.

      Speaker Johnson gave an impressive speech yesterday upon election. I wish him great success. He is a moral and principled man.

      • Is Vegas providing odds on how long Speaker Johnson will remain in his post? As you noted, legislating involves compromise, and I don’t think the hardliners are going to change their tune on that. The House didn’t change the rules, so it’ll only take one member to sink his Speakership.

  13. Well. He is a Republican, so there shouldn’t be too much change to committee assignments for Republicans during these turbulent days and who knows what will flow down the pipe next…

  14. He does not seem like a complete trainwreck.

    Now hold the line with spending and do not fund any foreign wars with money we have to borrow.

  16. Blame the carpetbaggers who flooded the field at the opener of ranked choice voting, not the one who been aggressively campaigning for over a year prior.

    Also the new speaker is a former firefighter, so I’m good. Maybe he’ll help get some of the EMS legislation passed in Congress.

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