'Ukraine-skeptical' congressman elected Speaker of the US House

At the meeting, the Democrats nominated the minority leader in the House of Representatives, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York State for the position of Speaker of the House, while all the Republican congressmen who were hesitant on the evening of October 24 decided to vote for Mr. Johnson on October 25 (local time).

The vote count showed that candidate Johnson received 220 votes - surpassing the necessary threshold of 217 votes to be elected Speaker of the House, while candidate Jeffries only received 209 votes, losing 3 votes compared to previous rounds of confrontation with other Republican candidates.

Thus, Mr. Johnson has become the 56th Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Congressman Johnson, currently Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference, is the fourth person nominated by the Republicans for the position of Speaker of the House after Mr. Kevin McCarthy was dismissed by the far-right on October 3.

In their first meeting, Republican congressmen chose House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (Louisiana), but he withdrew before the official vote when it was certain he would not have enough votes.

For the second time, Congressman Jim Jordan (Ohio), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, after three rounds of voting still did not gain enough support, so the Republican Party had to ignore this candidate.

The third time, the nominee was Tom Emmer (Minnesota), the number 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, but he also had to withdraw just a few hours after being nominated when the far-right faction firmly opposed, while the person with the second most votes, Mr. Johnson, was nominated.

Mike Johnson, 51, has been a member of the US House of Representatives since 2016 and is currently serving his fourth term. In 2020, Johnson co-signed with 100 Republican congressmen to support a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, supporting former President Trump's stance. Johnson was enthusiastically supported by Trump in the race for Speaker of the House. Johnson's election as Speaker of the House ended a 22-day crisis and opened up prospects for the US Congress to address urgent issues such as reviewing the $106 billion national security spending package announced by President Joe Biden on October 20 to strengthen US border security, as well as sending billions of dollars in aid to Israel and Ukraine, especially reaching an agreement on a spending package to avoid the risk of a government shutdown as the November 17 deadline approaches.

Johnson has been skeptical of aid to Ukraine in recent years, voting against two separate appropriations bills to provide aid to Ukraine last year and in September 2023. Meanwhile, he has shown strong support for Israel amid its serious conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Shortly after the US House of Representatives elected its Speaker, President Biden asserted that he was not worried about challenges in the 2024 election. When asked if he was concerned about Mr. Johnson trying to overturn the election results in 2024 if he was re-elected, President Biden told reporters at the White House: "No." The White House boss cited about 60 failed lawsuits filed by Republicans after his victory in the 2020 presidential election, and declared: "I understand the Constitution"./.