Kean will vote for Mike Johnson for speaker

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) will support Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) for Speaker of the House on the House floor today, according to Kean’s chief of staff Dan Scharfenberger.

“Congressman Kean is going to support Mike Johnson on the floor today,” Scharfenberger told the New Jersey Globe. “From the beginning, the priority has been getting a Speaker that will get Congress working again and that will help us deliver for New Jersey families.”

Last night, Johnson was nominated by the House GOP caucus to be their next speaker designee, three weeks after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a historic vote. Since then, the GOP has churned through three speaker nominees who couldn’t get enough support on the House floor to win.

Johnson, their fourth choice, looks like he may fare differently. Many of the House Republicans who were most fervently opposed to prior nominees like House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) or House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) have signaled that they’re alright with Johnson, and Johnson is considered to have a good shot at winning when the House votes later today. 

Kean himself was among Jordan’s opponents, at least on the third and final floor vote. Kean supported Johnson on the first two ballots, but flipped against him on the last ballot, saying that “it has become evident that Chairman Jordan does not and will not have the votes to become Speaker.”

As the representative from New Jersey’s one true swing district, Kean’s speaker votes may have more electoral implications than most. His initial support for Jordan, a former leader of the House Freedom Caucus, drew scathing attacks from his Democratic opponents; the same may be true for Johnson, who is more mild-mannered than Jordan but still holds deeply conservative positions on abortion and LGBT rights and worked to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Both of New Jersey’s other Republican House members, Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) and Chris Smith (R-Manchester), are set to vote for Johnson today as well; both supported Johnson during yesterday’s multiple nomination contests.

If Johnson is indeed able to win today’s House vote, which is scheduled to begin at noon, it will bring to an end a House leadership crisis unlike any in recent history. He’ll immediately be thrust into major battles over government funding, aid for Ukraine and Israel, and any number of other issues that the House has been unable to address for the past three weeks.