Mike Johnson, the Nice Guy Who Finished First

At 12:17 p.m. on Tuesday, Tom Emmer became the Republican nominee for House Speaker. At 4:27 p.m. that same day, the No. 3 Republican in the House dropped out because of yet another internal rebellion.

He was the third such candidate privately selected by Republicans to lead the House since a group of rebels ousted Kevin McCarthy at the beginning of the month. Once again, Republicans were forced to start the search for a new Speaker from scratch. By 8 p.m., the party convened behind closed doors in the Capitol to find someone self-confident enough to run into the same buzzsaw of opposition that chewed up Emmer and, before him, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise. “You have to find somebody who’s smart enough to get to 217,” said Ronny Jackson of Texas, “but stupid enough to want the job.” With a four-vote majority in the chamber, it would take only a few Republicans to block one of their own from becoming Speaker, though dozens had come out to oppose all of the candidates offered up so far. The next time didn’t look like it would be different.

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