US House elects Trump ally Mike Johnson as new speaker

Republicans have made a bold choice by electing a surprise new Speaker of the House after bitter infighting and high drama.

Republicans have finally united behind a new standard-bearer as the US House of Representatives elected its 56th speaker, ending weeks of turmoil and bitter infighting.

Mike Johnson, a little-known ally of Donald Trump who spearheaded legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election, won the unanimous support of his party to lead the lower chamber of Congress, which has been at a standstill since Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a right-wing coup on October 3.

“I think all the American people at one time had great pride in this institution, but right now, that’s in jeopardy. And we have a challenge before us right now to rebuild and restore that trust,” Mr Johnson said as he took up the gavel.

Newly elected Speaker of the House Representatives Mike Johnson. Picture: AFP

“It’s the beauty of America that allows a firefighter’s kid like me to come here and serve in the sacred chamber where great men and women have served before all of us.”

Mr Johnson will be the least experienced speaker in the post Civil War era, having never chaired a committee or held a senior leadership role.

He will almost immediately preside over a government shutdown that could threaten his job unless he can cut a 2024 budget deal with more seasoned rivals such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and US President Joe Biden.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson poses for a selfie with Matt Rosendale. Picture: AFP

Mr Johnson will also be expected to lead his deeply fractured conference through upcoming fights over funding for Ukraine and Israel.

He said his first act would be to introduce a resolution supporting America’s Middle East ally in its conflict with Hamas militants.

“We all know that the world is in turmoil — but a strong, America is good for the entire world,” he told politicians. “We are the beacon of freedom.”

Mr Biden congratulated Mr Johnson and vowed to work with him, adding that the United States now needed “to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown.”

Mike Johnson with Andy Barr as the House of Representatives holds an election for a new Speaker of the House. Picture: AFP

A virtual unknown, Mr Johnson’s lack of star power appears to have helped the 51-year-old attorney and religious rights campaigner, who lacked the enemies from his own side that prompted the downfall of other candidates.

Far from his party’s first choice, he was able to capitalise on the desperation of politicians to move on from the impasse, although winning the gavel was still a heavy lift in the deeply-fractured House Republican Conference.

“I haven’t heard one negative comment about him. Everybody likes him, he’s respected by all... somebody that’s going to be really spectacular and maybe for many years to come,” Mr Trump said ahead of the vote.

HOW REPUBLICANS ROLLED POTENTIAL LEADERS

Before Mr Johnson’s election, chaos engulfed the fragmented Republican party with three previous nominees failing to win the gavel.

Conservative firebrand Jim Jordan was forced to abandon his bid to become the House Speaker last Friday (local time), just hours after vowing to keep fighting for the top job that is second in line to the presidency.

The Ohio congressman lost a third consecutive vote on the floor of the 435-seat House – where his party holds a razor-thin majority with 221 members – when 25 colleagues voted against him, up from 20 and then 22 in the previous two rounds.

His internal opponents had received death threats during the bitter leadership battle, which was sparked by an historic coup to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.

The Republican intraparty war was sparked by the unprecedenting ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month. Picture: AFP

Jim Jordan’s bid to be US House Speaker fell flat. Picture: AFP

Mr Jordan’s candidacy was then put to an internal vote of Republican members on Friday, with 112 calling on him to drop out and only 86 supporting him to stay in the race.

Previous contender Steve Scalise was also forced to drop out and Mr Jordan’s allies kiboshed a plan to install a temporary leader for several months to buy time to end the intraparty war.

“We’re in a very bad place right now,” Mr McCarthy said.

“We will have to go back to the drawing board.”

Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, the leader of the hard-right rebel group which brought down Mr McCarthy, had even volunteered for them to be punished for their actions if it meant their colleagues rallied around Mr Jordan.

But his fellow Florida representative Mario Diaz-Balart, an opponent of Mr Jordan, declared: “There’s nothing that people can give us. There’s nothing that people can trade. That’s not what this is about.”

As the crisis continued, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said it was time for moderate Republicans to consider a bipartisan alternative to reopen the House, which needed to deal with Mr Biden’s request for a $105bn security package for Ukraine, Israel and AUKUS.

“There’s going to have to be a move on the Republican side of the aisle to make a decision to break with the extremists who are tearing the Republican conference apart,” he said.

— with AFP