The GOP-led House elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as its new speaker, ending a weeks-long stalemate in which three Republican nominees failed to win the gavel after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) got pushed out of the speakership.
In the first House floor ballot on Wednesday, Johnson defeated Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the nominee for the Democrats. The final tally was 220-209. A simple majority was needed for victory.
Johnson managed to largely unite the GOP conference, which has a narrow majority in the House, in a way that the three prior nominees — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) — failed to do this mon …