Mike Johnson – the fourth Speaker Designate for the House, received 127 votes from the GOP conference

Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Mike Johnson – the fourth Speaker Designate for the House, receiving 127 votes from the GOP conference.

Johnson has a broad base of support, following a path similar to those of two of his political mentors: Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a fellow Louisianan, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, both of whom also won nominations for speaker but dropped out. All three began as state legislators before they won seats in Congress and were head of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, before they moved up to leadership posts.

Johnson is seeking to achieve something the last three nominees failed to do: win at least 217 of the 221 Republican votes needed to become speaker. It will be Johnson’s decision whether and when to hold such a vote. Jordan held multiple votes and failed, while Scalise and Emmer bowed out before they held any floor votes, recognizing they didn’t have a path to victory.

Rep. Mike Johnson, a relatively little-known Louisiana Republican and low-ranking member of the GOP leadership team, became the party’s latest nominee for House speaker Tuesday night after three other hopefuls fizzled out.

He was nominated just hours after Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., beat Johnson and six other candidates to seize the nomination, only to quickly drop his bid after he failed to secure the near-unanimous GOP support needed on the House floor.

Three weeks on, the Republicans have been frittering away their majority status — a maddening embarrassment to some, democracy in action to others, but not at all how the House is expected to function.

Refusing to unify, far-right members won’t accept a more traditional speaker and moderate conservatives don’t want a hardliner. While Johnson had no opponents during the private roll call, some two dozen Republicans did not vote, more than enough to sink his nomination.

Anxious and exhausted, Republican lawmakers are desperately trying to move on. “Pretty sad commentary on governance right now,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. “Maybe on the fourth or fifth or sixth or 10th try, we’ll get this thing right.”

After he withdrew Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Tom Emmer briskly left the building where he had been meeting privately with Republicans. He said later at the Capitol that Trump’s opposition did not affect his decision to bow out.