Mike Johnson Becomes Speaker After Dan Meuser Drops Out of Race

(RepublicanDaily.org) – Less than a day after he announced that he would be running for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Pennsylvania Representative Dan Meuser said that he was dropping out of the race.

The decision followed a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, who were contending with several other candidates for the speakership that now belongs to Mike Johnson. The speakership had been vacant since Republican Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and a few other GOP members in the house staged a coup and booted former speaker Republican California Representative Kevin McCarthy from the post, aided by the votes of all Democrats in Congress at the time.

As a result, House Republicans had dissembled in the days that followed, with former president Donald Trump putting himself forward as a possible temporary speaker, after which he endorsed Republican Ohio Representative Jim Jordan for the post. However, House Majority Leader and Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise narrowly won against Jordan in a vote among GOP members in the House, securing the nomination for speakership. However, to add to the chaos, Scalise immediately withdrew after failing to secure the votes needed to elevate him to speaker in a full vote on the House floor. With the Republicans only holding a slim majority over the Democrats in Congress, the GOP could only afford four dissenting votes for the party to properly elect a speaker.

In a statement to the press, Meuser called his fellow members in the party to “come together as Republicans” and finally elect a speaker so that Congress can “get back to work.” He also added that part of his decision to withdraw was a commitment he made to former president Trump to help “lead his (Trump’s) campaign in Pennsylvania,” a commitment Meuser said he would like to focus on instead of what appeared to be a protracted run for speaker. He also called on fellow GOP members in Congress to work together so that Trump can be elected president again and “rid Joe Biden from the White House.”