Three weeks after it all began, House Republicans stopped stepping on the rakes they placed around themselves, electing Rep. Mike Johnson speaker of the House. For now.
Johnson, a social conservative from Louisiana who previously led the Republican Study Committee, was elected on a 220-209 vote, winning unanimous support from all the Republicans voting Wednesday — something his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, never managed to do in the 15 ballots it took to elect him in January.
The vote ended weeks of self-imposed embarrassment for the GOP, but it doesn’t ensure smooth sailing from here on out.
