After three weeks and three candidates, the House has a speaker

For Republicans, the fourth time was the charm. The House now has a speaker, Mike Johnson (R-LA), who was approved by a 220-to-209 party-line vote yesterday.

Who is Mike Johnson?... Some past actions:

• He served on Trump’s impeachment defense team, and led an effort to collect signatures for an amicus brief in support of an unsuccessful Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election by voiding 20 million votes in four other states.
• Johnson is strongly opposed to abortion access, and previously proposed legislation that would make it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion.
• Before being elected to Congress in 2016, Johnson was an attorney with a focus on social conservative issues, including defending the state’s same-sex marriage ban to the Louisiana Supreme Court. He’s also called for restrictions on medical interventions, such as surgery, for transgender youth.

📝 More data: According to the 2021 bipartisan index kept by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University – which scores how well members of opposite parties work together using bill sponsorship data – Johnson was ranked 429th out of 435 lawmakers. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, gives Johnson a lifetime score of 90% for his voting record.

👀 Looking ahead… The House will now turn its focus to time-sensitive pieces of legislation, including a bill to fund the government that needs to be passed by November 17 to avert a shutdown.