Former US President, Donald Trump has congratulated newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, bringing an end to weeks of chaos and Republican infighting on Capitol Hill.
Trump said he will be “a great speaker of the House and that we were very happy to help”.
“At this time yesterday, nobody was thinking of Mike, and then we put out the word and now he’s the Speaker of the House.”
The conservative Louisiana lawmaker won with 220 votes in the lower chamber of Congress.
Mr Johnson is the fourth Republican nominated for the position since Kevin McCarthy’s ouster on 3 October.
The previous nominee, Minnesota’s Tom Emmer, abruptly dropped out of the race on Tuesday after about four hours.
Read Also: US Speakership: Republican Lawmakers Accuse Jim Jordan Allies Of Intimidation, Death Threats
Mr Johnson’s success in the hard-fought Speaker battle represents a victory for the ideologically right-wing, Trump-aligned faction of the Republican Party and a loss for its moderates, whose candidates struggled to gain traction among conservative representatives on Capitol Hill.
Mr Johnson, 51, is considered a staunch conservative and a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
In 2020, he was a key figure in efforts to legally contest the results of the 2020 presidential election, urging Mr Trump to “keep fighting” and “exhaust every available legal remedy”.
The mild-mannered former lawyer and talk radio host has served in the House since 2016 and is a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a position that is often seen as a first step toward leadership positions within the party.
He has also taken a hard-line conservative position on a number of policy issues, including abortion rights and same-sex marriage, which he opposes. Mr Johnson is also against further US aid to Ukraine.
When nominating Mr Johnson on the floor of the House, Elise Stefanik, the chair of the Republican conference, called him a “dedicated servant” and “titan” who has dedicated his life to “America’s great principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
But Democrat Pete Aguilar called him “the most important architect of electoral college objections” to the 2020 presidential vote and said he was chosen because he “can appease Donald Trump”.
Pingback: Liberia Presidential Election Heads For Run-Off Vote - Matrix News