WASHINGTON — Tuesday evening, Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, was among the latest candidates for U.S. House speaker. But before the day ended, the Willow Park Republican stood beside Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson as he addressed journalists in the meeting room where his colleagues picked Johnson as its newest nominee. At the press conference, Republicans chanted “Mike! Mike! Mike!”
Johnson, an evangelical Christian conservative, is currently the vice chair of the Republican Conference. In a statement, Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, said he and Johnson started serving in Congress the same year and called Johnson one of his best friends.
“Mike has the character, unwavering resolve, and all the leadership qualities necessary to unite our Conference, refocus us on our mission, and lead us out of this wilderness back onto the field,” Arrington said.
Before Johnson was nominated it had been a whirlwind afternoon on Capitol Hill. The No. 3 House republican, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, won the GOP nomination for House speaker.
“He's not as conservative as I am. But he's right on most of the issues in my mind,” Williams said.
Emmer beat out more than a half dozen other candidates including Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco. Sessions has served in Congress for 24 years, longer than other candidates on that ballot, and said he has helped Republicans expand their ranks too as head of the House GOP’s campaign operation. But Sessions did not survive the early rounds of secret balloting. He captured less than a dozen votes, but later expressed hope his GOP colleagues would come to a consensus on a nominee.
“We're going to move through this, we are not going to spend the night in that room, and we're going to have to come to some reality-based conclusion,” Sessions told reporters.
Emmer immediately faced opposition by more than 20 House members from the party’s right wing, including some from Texas.
Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, told reporters when it comes to the speaker, he wants “new Republican leadership.” Other holdouts simply said Emmer was not conservative enough.
"I can't go along with putting one of the most moderate members of the entire Republican Conference in the speaker's chair," said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana.
And that was before former President Donald Trump came out on social media ripping Emmer as a "republican in name only" who could not be trusted.
“If we go to the floor, you know what I'm doing? Make no mistake, I'll be nominating Donald J. Trump,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, when it became clear from a secret ballot that Emmer did not have the confidence of the Conference.
After just over four hours, Emmer withdrew his candidacy and that’s when Republicans held another forum with a new slate of candidates. Williams threw his hat in the ring. He is chair of the Small Business Committee and owns a car dealership.
“My whole pitch is a business pitch,” he said. “I still own a business, still employ hundreds of people, still dealing with the government regulations. I feel it.”
It has been three weeks since eight renegade House Republicans joined with Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker. Earlier in the day, Williams said the fact that three nominees dropped out because they could not get enough support showed that the Conference was “divided.”
“Anything's possible. We gotta get it done, but the mindset is to try to get there probably more than ever tonight,” he said. “We got somebody in that room. I firmly believe will 217.”
The House is expected to vote on Johnson’s nomination on the floor at noon Eastern.