Mike Johnson Named the GOP's Latest Candidate for House Speaker Hours After Tom Emmer Withdrew: What to Know

Johnson, a far-right Louisiana congressman whose House tenure is characterized by opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, currently serves as a deputy Republican whip and sits on the House Judiciary Committee

Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson was nominated by Republicans to run for House speaker Tuesday night — hours after Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer was chosen and dropped out.

In a speech following his nomination, Johnson, 51, said in part, "I'm honored to have the support of my colleagues, and what they understand about this is this is servant leadership — we're gonna serve the people of this country," as shown in a video shared by the Associated Press.

Related: Tom Emmer Drops Out of House Speaker Race Hours After Being Nominated

Johnson is the fourth speaker-designate put forth by the party this month after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in an unprecedented recall vote, which was initiated by far-right Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

While Emmer — who is currently House majority whip — was initially nominated on Tuesday, he dropped out when it became clear that he could not secure the 217 votes to become the House speaker in a house floor vote, according to NBC News.

Johnson and Emmer were among seven other Republicans who announced their candidacy for the role earlier this week, including Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, Georgia Rep. Austin Scott, Michigan Rep. Jack Bergman, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Meuser, Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, and Alabama Rep. Gary Palmer.

Related: House Names Temporary Speaker Pro Tempore After Kevin McCarthy's Historic Ousting

Johnson, who currently serves as a deputy whip and sits on the House Judiciary Committee, secured 128 votes during the final round of voting, per NBC News.

Donalds secured 29 votes, and 44 votes were cast for other candidates, including McCarthy and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, per the outlet.

After earning the GOP nomination, Johnson told reporters that he intended to work with lawmakers to secure the 217 votes needed to become house speaker by noon Wednesday, according to NBC News.

Related: Nine Republicans Are Now Running for House Speaker amid Unprecedented Congressional Gridlock

Johnson secured his seat in the house in Louisiana's fourth congressional district with the largest margin of victory in his region in 50 years, according to his website, per Axios, and has served four terms in Congress.

His congressional tenure has been characterized by a strong opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, including disapproving of the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. In 2022, he introduced a bill aiming to ban mention of sexual orientation and gender identity in federally funded institutions; called the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, it was equated to Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill.

Related: House Republicans Target LGBTQ People with National 'Don't Say Gay' Bill, Testing GOP Values Ahead of Midterms

Johnson also previously led an amicus brief on behalf of more than 100 Republican members of Congress in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of former President Donald Trump in four swing states, which was eventually thrown out by the Supreme Court.

Following McCarthy’s ousting, Republicans have had a difficult time installing a new House speaker. Republicans initially nominated Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise to be their candidate, but the No. 2 House Republican quickly learned he would not have enough votes to win the formal speaker election, and withdrew himself from consideration for the role.

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Last week, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan was selected as the new Republican House speaker nominee. But after three rounds of voting in the House speaker election, Jordan was also unable to secure the number of votes needed to win. By Friday, his dreams of the speakership were dashed when members of his own party voted to drop him as the party's House speaker nominee.

In order to be formally elected as House speaker, a nominee must earn the majority of votes cast during an election, which amounts to 217 votes if everyone in the House participates.

It is unclear if Johnson will be able to secure enough votes to win as Republicans have a very narrow majority in the House, which means an election can result in a deadlock if even a few Republican rebels oppose the GOP nominee.

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