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How did Mike Johnson become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives?

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Mike Johnson became speaker of the House of Representatives after Republicans struggled for about three weeks to replace Kevin McCarthy, who had been removed in October 2023. Other Republican candidates, including Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmer, failed to gain enough support. Johnson emerged as a consensus candidate with support from different parts of the Republican caucus. On October 25, 2023, the House elected him as its 56th speaker. First elected to the House in 2016, Johnson was one of the least experienced speakers in modern U.S. political history, and because Republicans held a narrow majority, he could afford only a few party defections. With the Democratic Party retaking control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections, Johnson will no longer be House speaker.