DLNews Politics:

The House Republicans have chosen Rep. Mike Johnson as the new speaker. This significant moment comes three weeks after Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster. It's a victory for Johnson, who has the support of almost all of the House GOP conference.

But he also has baggage that could complicate his job. Johnson is a constitutional lawyer with a hard-right bent. He is a close ally of the hard-line co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan. He was involved in the conservative effort to overturn the 2020 election results and voted against certifying Trump's win. He will have to manage that element of his history if he's going to succeed in the top leadership post, and many of the same concerns that swirled around the candidacy of the party's previous speaker candidates, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, will likely resurface as Johnson begins his tenure.

But he managed to thread a needle that many of the other speaker candidates struggled to do: He secured the endorsements of both conservative hardliners and the majority of the conference, including veteran appropriators worried about his record on government spending bills and members from swing districts who wanted a candidate closer to their views. Johnson's ascension saves the GOP from a parade of unorthodox and borderline unworkable alternatives, such as empowering a caretaker speaker pro tempore or forging a bipartisan governing coalition with Democrats.

It was a close race between Johnson and his rival, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who had the backing of most Democrats. In a final vote, there were 220 votes for Johnson and 209 for Jeffries. "The Honorable Mike Johnson, having received the majority of the votes, is duly elected speaker of the House for the 118th Congress," interim Speaker Patrick McHenry announced after the closed-door, secret ballot vote.

The GOP formally endorsed Johnson for the job at a brief press conference that followed the late-night nomination process. Johnson surrounded himself with lawmakers, who cheered him and posed for selfies.

"Mike is a true friend of ours," Scalise said in a statement. "He's the right man at the right time for our country."

Among the other finalists were Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Byron Lutz of Ohio have the support of some in the Freedom Caucus and Reps. Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Mark Meadows of North Carolina had the support of more moderate GOP members.

It was the first time since McCarthy's ouster that there was no opposition from within the GOP conference to a speaker candidate. That reflects the fractious ethos that gripped the party, with dozens of members breaking traditional norms and voting according to their preferences, ideologies, and allegiances. Many have complained that the GOP has become a "personalized" party, in which a member's loyalty to Trump or other leaders is more important than their ability to govern.