Shortly after the reelection of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as speaker of the House on Friday, 11 Republican congressmen who were previously reluctant to vote for him signed a statement explaining their decision to save the GOP from a dysfunctional Congress.
“We did this despite our sincere reservations regarding the speaker’s track record over the past 15 months,” read the letter signed by the congressmen, among them Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., both of whom were undecided on whether or not to vote for Johnson.
The Louisiana lawmaker’s reelection was highly irregular. In the first round of votes, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Keith Self of Texas, and Norman all cast their votes against Johnson, while Rep. Chip Roy of Texas defiantly abstained from voting. That left Johnson and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a tie of 215-215. It took 218…
