Rep. Virginia Foxx tells reporter to shut up as GOP boos question on Mike Johnsonâs vote to overturn election

Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry finally gave up his gavel Wednesday afternoon.

Twenty-two days after eight House Republicans worked with Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from leading the chamber, the party was able to find McCarthy’s replacement.

McHenry moved away from the dais, gave a quick wave as he stepped away and bowed as he received a standing ovation for his job over the last month.

Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, became House speaker Wednesday after four nominations and four rounds of votes.

But as soon as Republicans announced Johnson’s nomination, people, including members of Congress, began asking, “Who is Mike Johnson?” with some of his colleagues even admitting to having to Google him.

Johnson, Trump and the 2020 election results

Johnson, 51, is serving in his third term in Congress and is most known for his support of former President Donald Trump. He served on Trump’s legal defense team during Trump’s impeachment hearings, helped organize Republicans to file court documents in Texas that contested the 2020 election results in four swing states and voted to overturn the Pennsylvania election results.

In the House chamber, when Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from California, called Johnson one of the leading “architects” of trying to overthrow the certification of President Joe Biden’s election, several Republicans shouted, “Damn right!”

He is also a staunch opponent of abortion, medical marijuana and same-sex marriage.

“I think he’s gonna be a fantastic speaker,” Trump said Wednesday at the New York courthouse where the former president, who is now the Republican front-runner for president in 2024, is on trial over a lawsuit alleging business fraud.

Trump said he hadn’t heard “one negative comment about him. Everybody likes him.”

That was a drastic turn from Trump helping quash the nomination of Majority Whip Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, who was nominated by Republicans Tuesday morning but was ousted as the nominee by that evening.

When a reporter asked Tuesday night about Johnson’s vote to overturn the 2020 election, North Carolina’s Rep. Virginia Foxx led her colleagues in chastising the reporter and telling her to “Shut up!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.