In some high-stakes political drama, the House of Representatives on Friday voted to reelect House Speaker Mike Johnson to lead the 119th Congress by a razor-thin margin. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who ascended to the leadership post in 2023 after the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy,

But the handful of conservative dissidents still had no realistic path to the speakership themselves. They had no viable alternative, which is how they wound up with Johnson in the first place after ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023.