New House Speaker (Republican POV)

By: Rama Ketabchi

Kevin McCarthy, who was the previous speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was removed from his position after many conservative lawmakers became angry with McCarthy’s decision to avoid a government shutdown and instead negotiate with the Democrats to keep the government open. The final vote was 216 to 210, and the Republicans were successful with giving the position to a person of their liking. There were eight Republicans in particular who voted against McCarthy and their main reason was, “McCarthy’s decision to pass a stopgap measure with Democratic support to fund the government” (The Washington Post). Representative Andy Biggs, a long time Republican member stated, “McCarthy has failed as an effective leader,” and

another point he made was how McCarthy “has gone against many of the promises he made in January and can no longer be trusted at the helm” (The Washington Post). A new polling was done by the YouGov and their data shows, “About 47% of Republicans say they want the speaker to be more conservative than McCarthy,” another piece of data showed, “About 49% of Republicans want the next speaker to stick to their principles no matter what” (YouGov). The feeling that the speaker of the house didn’t keep his promises such as saying he would not negotiate on cutting spending and the other conservative priorities made them feel like they’d been lied to and the speaker wasn’t cooperating with them at all. The right side desires a speaker that will be loyal to Donald Trump as well as trustworthy and intelligent.

After the speaker of the house was removed, it was now time for a new speaker to be chosen; The Republicans started taking action in order to choose a speaker they preferred. Mike Johnson became the new speaker of the house winning votes from the right wing as well as centrist Republicans. Johnson is a constitutional lawyer and a notable time in his career was his role in devising an argument aimed at keeping Donald Trump in power, even after losing the elections. His voting records from the past have earned him a rating of 92% from the American Conservative Union. Republicans were even more eager to vote for Johnson after seeing him get the stamp of approval from Trump saying, “He will be a fantastic speaker,” giving them the hope that with Johnson’s rise there will be a renewed rigor to their efforts to impeach Biden. Even though Johnson was less experienced than nearly every previous speaker, he was the previous chair for the Republican Study Committee which is the biggest ideological faction of Republicans. Two hundred and twenty Republicans voted in favor of Johnson, giving him the majority of votes to earn the position. Considering him a “Dyed in the wool conservative,” unlike previous speakers, the Republicans are happy with the new house of speaker that was chosen instead of McCarthy.

“Who Is Mike Johnson? Five Things to Know about the New Republican House Speaker.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group,www.nbcnews.Pol com.Politics/congress/mike-johnson-house-speaker-republican-nominee-wh -what-know-rcna122114. Accessed 28 Nov. 2023.

Frankovic, Kathy, and Taylor Orth. “What Republicans Want in the next House Speaker. Speaker” YouGov, YouGov, 11 Oct. 2023,today.yougov.com/politics/article ticles/47560-what-republicans-want-in-the-next-house-speaker.

Groves, Stephen. “New Speaker Mike Johnson Holds Favor with Conservatives. Can Can He Unite the GOP Where Others Failed?” AP News, AP News, 28 Oct. Oct. 2023,apnews.com/article/house-speaker-mike-johnson-conservatives- esrepublicans-92b118abced14e4b221f3ab0daf4e757.

Historic House Speaker Vote Does Little to Instill Confidence ... - Ipsos,www.ipsos. os.com/en-us/speaker-of-the-house-opinion. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023.