A look at Mike Johnson and the troubled history of Republican speakers : NPR

Table Of Content

• Shohei Ohtani responds to boos in Toronto by hitting a home run in Dodgers 12-2 blowout win over Blue Jays
• Rogers storms out of GOP meeting, rips 'eight traitors' who voted to oust McCarthy
• The GOP conference meeting has ended
• More From the Los Angeles Times
• Massie says speaker vote tied to government funding plan

Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko, a supporter of Jim Jordan's bid for House speaker, said the Ohio Republican would need to "step aside" if he can't secure the floor votes needed to win the gavel. Through six votes in two days, GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy has not been able to get a majority of votes needed to win the speakership. Mike Johnson, the Louisiana congressman who was elected speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday after a three-week standoff among Republicans, took the lead in filing a brief in a lawsuit that sought to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win. That claim, widely panned by legal scholars of all ideologies, was quickly thrown out by the U.S.

Shohei Ohtani responds to boos in Toronto by hitting a home run in Dodgers 12-2 blowout win over Blue Jays

That has included a public endorsement of Biden earlier this month by 15 members of the Kennedy family. “His role and who he takes votes from is likely to be quite dynamic” as the campaign develops, said Lis Smith, the veteran Democratic strategist who leads the party’s efforts against Kennedy. Anita Chabria and David Lauter bring insights into legislation, politics and policy from California and beyond.

Rogers storms out of GOP meeting, rips 'eight traitors' who voted to oust McCarthy

Now, “people are fixing them up and making the community better,” he said. A photographer was among those arrested during clashes between protesters and law enforcement on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Wednesday. Work and classes will remain remote, and officials are considering keeping the campus closed for longer. "The university is a private campus and the group had been violating some of their orders. It was a trespass at that point and we assisted with the arrests," Los Angeles Police Captain Kelly Muniz said during a briefing. The Los Angeles Police Department said 93 people were arrested on suspicion of trespassing during Wednesday's demonstrations at the University of Southern California. In its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took roughly 240 hostages.

The GOP conference meeting has ended

Democratic leaders have indicated they are open to this, and it essentially repeats the strategy that allowed Johnson to pass the Ukraine portion of the aid bill earlier this month. “Prior to proceeding to the election of the speaker, it would be prudent to first recess for the relative caucus and conferences to meet and discuss the path forward,” McHenry said Tuesday, calling the House to recess and slamming the gavel. With the House leaderless after a right-wing faction ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speakership on Tuesday, Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will temporarily take up the gavel as interim speaker. But on Tuesday night, the former speaker opened a closed-door party meeting with a prayer he attributed to Mother Teresa about forgiving one’s enemies and asked his supporters not to nominate him. A small group of hard-right Republicans drove the country to the brink of a government shutdown, then plunged Congress into chaos when they instigated the vote that, with Democratic support, removed Representative Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

Mike Johnson and the troubled history of recent Republican speakers - WPR

Mike Johnson and the troubled history of recent Republican speakers.

Posted: Sat, 27 Apr 2024 20:31:00 GMT [source]

In the 2022 midterm elections, two issues — abortion rights and democracy protection — mobilized many voters to elect more Democrats and far fewer Republicans than both parties expected. Johnson’s opposition to abortion — he favors a national ban — and to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights and protections is well documented in his pre-Congress work as an attorney for the socially conservative Alliance Defending Freedom. After the Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, Johnson suggested that now women would produce more “able-bodied workers,” whose payroll tax contributions would help save Medicare and Social Security. The House rejected the right’s favorite to replace McCarthy, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.

House to adjourn without voting

Sources told CNN earlier Wednesday that there was a "big push" to bring the bill to the floor once the House elected a new speaker. The House is now voting to pass a resolution in support of Israel in the war against Hamas – the first measure to come to the floor to be passed after Speaker Mike Johnson was elected this morning following three weeks of a speakerless-House. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan left a meeting Thursday with some of his Republican colleagues who remain opposed to his speakership bid, telling CNN, "We had a good discussion." Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, on the other hand, said after the meeting he would “take a look at” voting for Jordan but doubted there would be another floor vote soon. Buchanan backed Jordan for speaker on the first round but flipped on the second ballot yesterday.

Massie says speaker vote tied to government funding plan

Last week, 11 members of the Advisory Committee on Muslim Life at USC — more than half the membership — resigned in protest of the decision on Tabassum. Folt had convened the group in mid-2023 amid complaints of anti-Muslim bias on campus. Asna Tabassum was selected as USC valedictorian and offered a slot to speak at graduation. The university canceled her speech after pro-Israel groups criticized her Instagram.

Editorial: House Republicans just elected an election denier as speaker. American democracy is in trouble

One faction, comprising an overwhelming majority of the House GOP caucus, is interested in accomplishing the possible. The other is more interested in aiming for the impossible and then complaining about falling short. For the last few years, congressional Republicans have been split into factions that are not ideological in the traditional sense. Pick nearly any standard domestic policy issue — abortion, gun rights, taxes, immigration — and you won’t see much evidence of the schism. "If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard," he said.

Rep. Ann Wagner: 'HELL NO' on Jordan as speaker

Frustrations were boiling over and some lawmakers simply walked away as the political crisis spiraled and now threatens to leave the Republican majority in turmoil for the foreseeable future. Scalise, who voted to save McCarthy, has not said whether he wants the job. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the House minority leader, will almost certainly run for speaker, but would need GOP support to secure the position.

But he still had to win a majority on the House floor, where chaos reigned the last time Republicans tried to elect a speaker, and it was clear that Mr. Scalise did not yet have enough votes. Tensions are high, and the two declared candidates have already split the conference. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., has secured some endorsements from center-right and swing district members, and right-wing firebrand Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, snagged the support of former President Donald Trump and various House conservatives. He held a news conference Monday to discuss the conflict, convening it first outside the speaker’s office before he moved to another room in the Capitol. He held a phone call with the speaker of the Knesset, the Israeli legislative body. He offered a five-point plan to help Israel, offered criticism of the administration and called for further U.S. action.

Reached for comment about the House's changing posture toward a motion to vacate, office directed NBC News to recent remarks from Johnson, R-La., which included his saying Saturday that he doesn't walk around the Capitol "being worried about a motion to vacate." Asked whether she plans to move forward with her motion to vacate Johnson’s speakership, she said, “It’s coming regardless of what Mike Johnson decides to do." As in the 13th District to the north, economic issues and inflation will likely be top of mind for these voters. Issues regarding water — including water access for agriculture, as well as water quality and water availability in wells — will also be crucial, along with healthcare access issues, said Thomas Holyoke, a professor of political science at Fresno State University. The district has a slight Latino majority, with white voters also accounting for nearly 40% of the electorate, according to data from California Target Book. It includes cities like Madera, Ceres and Merced and portions of Modesto and Turlock, as well as rural swaths of the San Joaquin Valley.

House candidates Democrat Adam Gray’s and Republican John Duarte’s stances on abortion, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, inflation, other issues. Democrats and Republicans are virtually tied in registration numbers, with Republicans recently taking on a several thousand-voter advantage, as of early April. Trump won the district in 2020 by a little more than one percentage point, according to data from California Target Book. Calvert has a history of voting against LGBTQ+ rights, as The Times has previously reported, but said during the 2022 campaign that his views had since evolved. That record will almost certainly come under fire in the Coachella Valley as he faces off against Rollins, a gay man who lives with his partner in Palm Springs. “I think Tran has much more of an uphill battle to be able to get his issues and his name into voters’ minds,” DeSipio said.

Those eight years actually made Hastert the longest-serving Republican speaker in history. But any luster left after 2006 was lost when he went to prison for bank fraud charges stemming from hush money payments he had made to a former student he admitted to having sexually abused decades earlier. She could activate a vote at any time so Johnson should know he is skating on thin ice. By Tuesday evening, five more Republicans, none with a national profile, were vying for the nomination. Mr. Johnson won after multiple rounds of ballots, beating out Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, a member of the Freedom Caucus.