(Image from NBC News)

Now if you have been keeping up with the news, you may have heard that the United States of America has a new House of Representatives speaker. His name is Mike Johnson, a Republican originally representing Louisiana’s 4th congressional district since 2017. But why is there a new Speaker of the House, how and why did he get elected to this role, and overall, what’s to come with this new speaker? 

Why the Change in Speaker Occurred

First, let’s discuss why there is a new speaker of the house. Kevin McCarthy, who was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from January to October 2023, was ousted on October 3rd, 2023, meaning that he was removed from the position of Speaker. The vote was 216 to 210, and with the removal of  Kevin McCarthy, history was made since he was the first speaker to ever be ousted by a vote in the middle of a term. McCarthy was voted out for multiple reasons. Between the Republican Matt Gaetz who acted on a forced vote, with McCarthy not living up to expectations due to false promises, and being two-faced to the different parties within the house, he lost a lot of support and thus his removal happened. In addition, the spending trajectories and current amount of debt of the House were unsustainable, and something needed to be done about it. Although the removal of Kevin McCarthy may have been good for Republicans, who were mad at McCarthy, an issue arose: sources such as CBS News claimed that a government shutdown would happen soon if a replacement wasn’t found soon.

The Election of Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson wasn’t the Republican party’s first choice. He was their fourth nominee in three weeks. Plus, many people within the house and government knew little to nothing about him. According to Jonathan Blitzer from The New Yorker, “many in Washington were forced to admit how little they knew about the man who was about to be second in line for the Presidency. The Republican senator Susan Collins said she’d have to Google him.” This was indeed a scary fact and represents how no one knows what may unfold with this new, unknown, speaker. Eventually, Mr. Johnson got elected as the speaker because there were 220 votes for him and 209 votes for the other candidate, Hakeem Jeffries. To add on, as described by CNN News, there was also unanimous government support for Mr. Johnson as well. 

Mike Johnson’s Views and Expectations

Lastly, there are many mixed opinions on Mike Johnson and his views. Although he’s been in the House of Representatives for less than eight years, he has a lot of controversial opinions. He is a strong Donald Trump ally, has denied the outcome of the election before, is against LGBTQ+ rights, voted against same-sex marriage, disagrees with abortion rights, and believes that gun violence isn’t a big issue. The list goes on and on. To be specific, according to Politico, “Mike Johnson is currently the cosponsor of at least three bills that would ban abortion nationwide.” If abortion were to be banned, it would affect many across the nation. It’s frightening for many people, seeing as though if anything were to happen to the President and Vice President, Mr. Johnson would be the next in line for president. Furthermore, what we can expect from him is a plan to bring up twelve different spending bills (instead of a big piece of legislation). Also, as claimed by CBS News, he plans on denouncing Hamas and approving aid for Israel. Many people around the world are in shock about his idea of approving aid for Israel and what chaos is to come with it. 

To take into consideration everything that has just been mentioned, Mike Johnson, the virtually unknown speaker was elected by the Republicans due to Kevin McCarthy being ousted due to failure to keep up with his promises and lack of support from both parties. Additionally, Mike Johnson has many controversial ideas and thoughts that will certainly affect many and most citizens within the United States. It’s not yet clear as to what is to come from  Mike Johnson being the new speaker of the House of Representatives, but many say it’s not gonna be good. The only thing that can be done now, is to wait and see.