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The new House speaker, an enthusiastic Trump supporter, will be used by Democratic strategists to make case Republicans cannot be trusted
Good morning, US politics blog readers. With Mike Johnson’s election as speaker of the House of Representatives yesterday, the chamber can finally get back to work – and so can the Democratic strategists who are sure to use his rightwing beliefs as evidence that the GOP is too extreme to rule. The Louisiana lawmaker was an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s attempt to disrupt his 2020 election loss, opposes abortions and LGBTQ+ rights and rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. The GOP has only a four-seat majority in the chamber, and Democrats are keen to next year topple some of the 18 Republicans representing districts Joe Biden won in 2020 and retake the majority – a campaign Johnson seems to be at the center of.
One of the first orders of business before Johnson will be finding agreement on a measure to fund the government beyond mid-November, when its current authorization expires. He’ll have to choose between insisting on deep cuts in spending that could alienate voters and potentially his own lawmakers, or a more moderate proposal meant to keep the lights on while longer-term spending is negotiated. That’s a story that will play out in the weeks to come, but one thing is assured: Democrats will be watching.
Joe Biden has no public events planned today, after staying up late yesterday for a state dinner with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese. The usual press briefing takes place at 1pm eastern time.
A manhunt is under way in Maine after a gunman killed 16 people. Follow our live blog for the latest on this developing story.
Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House, will address first-year students at Georgetown Law School this afternoon – and perhaps weigh in on Johnson’s emergence.
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