The nomination of Rep. Mike Emmer (R-MN) did not last long.
Emmer was torpedoed by Trump after having reached out to try and mend the fences, so the House was forced to vote yet again on a nominee, with Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) getting the nod.
Trump, while not outright endorsing Johnson, encouraged the caucus to vote for him, and vote for him they did.
Emmer and Trump have had their differences since the 2020 election, but everything was okay in Emmer's book.
Regardless, Emmer reached out to Trump over the weekend to try to garner his support.
Trump did not endorse Emmer, but he did tell the media that Emmer had called him up to tell him how much of a fan of his he was.
After Emmer secured the nomination, Trump blasted him on social media, calling him a RINO and telling MAGA not to vote for him.
Emmer had no path to 217 when it was made clear the MAGA contingent would not vote for him, so he pulled his name out of the hat.
Johnson, after a long GOP caucus, emerged as the candidate. The party seemed to consolidate around him, and Trump even sent a post to encourage everyone to vote for Johnson…
🚨 Trump throws his support behind @RepMikeJohnson for speaker — the man who spearheaded the 2020 amicus brief in the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results
LET’S GO pic.twitter.com/9FIgXCtzUF
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) October 25, 2023
That, of course, meant that MAGA would fall in line with Rep. Gaetz (R-FL) openly supporting the nomination.
Gaetz stated:
"He talks about single-subject spending bills being the organizing principle in the House of Representatives. That is what I've been fighting for since January.
"It is the reason Kevin McCarthy was vacated and despite the swamps, best efforts, we got a good godly man who's going to advance Republicans."
As the votes started to pour in, it seemed as though the party had, in fact, united behind Johnson.
Several of the early voters who had voted against everyone else fell in line with Johnson.
When it came time for Emmer to vote, he, too, called out Johnson's name to a round of applause from all the members.
Johnson did end up being confirmed with a unanimous 220 votes (all Republicans who were present). Jeffries received 209 votes, which was all Democrats present for the vote.
There is really not much to say here other than being overjoyed. Republicans were finally able to table their differences and put a nominee on the floor that could get a unanimous vote.
I will, however, admit that I never saw Johnson even coming into the picture, but considering his efforts to help Trump after the 2020 election, it was a clear oversight on my part.
After all, Johnson wrote the amicus brief, which was signed by more than 100 House Republicans, to support the lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to invalidate the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Trump will surely take credit for Johnson winning, and you cannot discount the weight he had with some members. The surprising aspect of this was that the never-Trumpers in the House still fell in line with the vote, which says a lot about Johnson in terms of being able to sway the 20 or so members who were digging in against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) solely because he had supported Trump and the 2020 election narrative.
This never should have taken this long, but the ordeal is now over, and they can get back to doing their jobs.
Hopefully, not too much damage was done in terms of the 2024 election, and we can get some serious momentum going into election day.
