Mike Johnson Inherits Republican Headache

Representative Mike Johnson has inherited the very headache he helped to create nearly a decade ago.

Johnson was officially elected Speaker of the House on Wednesday, securing the 217 votes he needed to win the gavel in what was seen as a victory for the Trump-aligned flank of the House GOP. The most conservative Republicans in the chamber have long sought to infiltrate the top leadership positions of the conference and fought for more power within the caucus. Now, one of the members of Congress who played a key role in the efforts to block Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory holds the most powerful position in the House of Representatives.

"If you don't think moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendence of this movement, and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you're not paying attention," Representative Matt Gaetz said ahead of the speaker vote Wednesday.

The growing influence of the House GOP's far-right flank has arguably been on its greatest display this Congress, beginning with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's January bid for the gavel. Several conservative hardliners in the caucus helped finally hand McCarthy the speakership after they exchanged their votes for concessions that included the very "motion to vacate" that resulted in McCarthy's ousting earlier this month.

Since McCarthy could afford only four Republican defectors, it took him 15 rounds of voting before he was able to coalesce his caucus around him. Then, only 10 months later, the California Republican was ousted from the post after eight House Republicans joined Democrats to strip him of the gavel using the "motion to vacate" they negotiated into his speakership deal.

Johnson will now become the leader of that very same Republican conference. Although Johnson is unlikely to have the task of appeasing the conservative firebrands that cornered McCarthy during his speakership, he may have to find a way to balance those voices with more traditional conservatives who are more moderate or represent districts that are more centrist. Even though none of them opposed his speakership bid, their criticisms of the far-right flank of the party could present a problem for Johnson.

The Louisiana Republican may also have to learn to get conservative hardliners to listen. When the speakership was still undecided and the third Speaker designate, Representative Jim Jordan, was rebuked by dozens of moderate Republicans, House Freedom Caucus members refused to allow a chamber where Jordan was not the speaker, resisting against the Jordan's decisions to allow a more moderate candidate to be the Speaker designee and to delay a Speaker vote until the next Congress.

Mike Johnson's Path to House Speaker

The House GOP had initially selected Representative Steve Scalise as their speaker designate, but because Jordan's supporters were unrelenting in electing anyone but the Ohio Republican, eventually Scalise dropped out before bringing it to a floor vote.

When Jordan brought his candidacy to the floor, more than a dozen of his more moderate colleagues refused to back him, leaving him with three failed rounds of voting.

After the second vote, Jordan had even briefly decided not to bring a third vote and empower interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry until January 3—a move that was fiercely criticized by Jordan's most adamant supporters in the Freedom Caucus, who eventually forced Jordan to bring more votes to the floor.

When Jordan eventually stepped down as the nominee, Representative Tom Emmer succeed him. But hours after Republicans supported Emmer's bid, and former President Donald Trump harshly called on House Republicans to oppose Emmer, the Indiana Republican also stepped down, eventually giving the nomination to Johnson, who received the second-most support to Emmer.

Although Johnson was able to unite his party in a rare moment for the House GOP, Democrats have attacked him for his relationship with Trump and his efforts to block Joe Biden's 2020 victory. He signed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit contesting the results of the presidential election a month after Election Day and voted to overturn the results of the election in Pennsylvania in January 2021.

When asked about his record on Tuesday night, Republicans told reporters to "shut up." It remains unclear as to whether this will present later problems for the House Republicans who held out their votes for Jordan over his ties to the most conservative members of the party.