Republicans Nominate Paul Ryan for Speaker

Rep. Paul Ry­an was nom­in­ated to be a can­did­ate for speak­er in a private vote by a wide ma­jor­ity of House Re­pub­lic­ans on Wed­nes­day, set­ting up a pub­lic vote on Thursday that re­mains his last obstacle to claim­ing the gavel.

The vote caps a chaot­ic search for a new Re­pub­lic­an speak­er and a peri­od of un­rest since House Speak­er John Boehner an­nounced he would resign and his pre­sumed suc­cessor, Ma­jor­ity Lead­er Kev­in Mc­Carthy, un­ex­pec­tedly dropped his speak­er­ship bid two weeks ago. Boehner will resign on Fri­day, he has said.

The fren­et­ic last three weeks were per­haps best summed up by Rep. Kristi Noem, who gave a short speech second­ing Ry­an’s nom­in­a­tion. She said that in the first week she came to Con­gress, she found her­self in the gym between Ry­an and Boehner, who were both do­ing yoga. She said that was the cra­zi­est thing she had seen in Con­gress—un­til the last few weeks.

Ry­an drew 200 votes, los­ing 43 to Rep. Daniel Web­ster, the former speak­er of the Flor­ida House, who clinched the en­dorse­ment of the con­ser­vat­ive House Free­dom Caucus. Much of the 30- to 40-strong group cast bal­lots for Web­ster, fol­low­ing through on their com­mit­ment, but a ma­jor­ity of the group has pledged that on Thursday they will sup­port Ry­an on the House floor. Still, some Re­pub­lic­ans are ex­pec­ted to cast pub­lic bal­lots for Web­ster or someone oth­er than Ry­an. Mc­Carthy and Rep. Mar­sha Black­burn each took in one vote.