Rep. Paul Ryan is the new House Speaker. The Wisconsin Republican earned a majority in voting Thursday morning.
The public vote on the House Floor was largely along party lines. A few conservative Republicans voiced their disapproval with the party’s nominee by voting for Rep. Daniel Webster, Ryan’s opponent for the GOP nomination. Most conservatives, however, did in the end vote for Ryan.
The final vote had Ryan with 236 votes, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with 184 votes, Webster with nine votes, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) with one vote, Rep. John Lewis (R-GA) with one vote, and non-lawmaker Colin Powell with one vote.
Those voting against Ryan and for Webster included: Reps. David Brat (R-VA), Curt Clawson (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Walter Jones (R-NC), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Bill Posey (R-FL), Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), and Ted Yoho (R-FL).
Democrats voting against Pelosi included: Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) who voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Rep. Gwen Graham (D-FL) voted for Cooper; and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) voted for Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).
Neither Ryan nor Webster responded with a vote when the clerk called their names. Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner voted for Ryan.
Ryan handily beat Webster in Wednesday’s GOP conference election to nominate a candidate for Speaker Wednesday, 200-43. The road to Ryan’s run for Speaker was unusual in that he was largely not seeking the gavel.
His predecessor Boehner faced an at times divided caucus. In accepting the task of running for Speaker Ryan called for unity in the conference.
Watching the vote in the chamber were Mitt Romeny, Ann Romney, and Ryan’s family.
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