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Mike Johnson has survived an attempt by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hardline Republican lawmaker from Georgia, to oust him as House speaker, ending a period of infighting that has engulfed the party in Congress.
In a vote Wednesday evening, the House rejected Greene’s attempt to advance a motion to remove Johnson. Democrats joined most Republicans in saving the Louisiana lawmaker, who became the top lawmaker in the lower house of Congress last October.
The vote all but ensures that Johnson will remain in his post until after the November election, unless there is a renewed flare-up of tensions within the party.
“Hopefully this is the end of the personality politics and frivolous character assassination that have characterized the 118th Congress. This is unfortunate and not who we are as Americans. We are better than this. We must get beyond this,” Johnson said in a statement after the vote.
The overwhelming vote to keep Johnson in office represents a blow to Greene, who was booed in the House as she tried to oust the speaker she had campaigned to oust for weeks. Only 11 House Republicans joined her bid after former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called for a vote against Greene’s effort in a Truth Social post Wednesday evening.
“If we show DISUNITY portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively impact everything!” Trump wrote. “Mike Johnson is a good man who tries very hard. I also wish certain things were done in the last two months, but we will do them together.”
Greene launched her effort to unseat Johnson after he allowed a House vote last month to send $61 billion in U.S. security aid to Ukraine, which she and many pro-Trump Republicans vigorously opposed against traditional members of the party who had been restrictive in foreign policy.
Greene had hoped to repeat the successful push by hardline Republicans in October to oust current Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But their attempt failed because Democrats decided to reward Johnson for enabling a vote on one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities with the Ukraine vote, while they voted to remove McCarthy in October.
In addition, Greene failed to generate a wave of opposition to Johnson among Republicans, who now hope to focus on the November election to preserve their slim majority.