After 22 days, four candidates, multiple failed votes and hours and hours of chaos and dysfunction, the House of Representatives finally has a new Speaker of the House.

Republicans on Wednesday elected Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson the 56th Speaker of the House, bringing to an end a three-week paralysis of the lower chamber of Congress that began with the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy.

"The challenge before us is great, but the time for action is now," Johnson said Wednesday afternoon from the speaker's rostrum. "I will not let you down."

Johnson did what Reps. Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer could not: unite the fractured House Republican conference to win the speaker's gavel. The Louisiana Republican won the support of holdouts like centrist Republican Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, who opposed Jim Jordan and other speaker candidates who challenged the 2020 election results, and the group of New York Republicans who broke with their party to vote for former GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin.

With the 220-209 vote, Johnson became the first Republican to win the support of his entire conference for speaker since John Boehner in 2011.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Johnson called his election as speaker "the honor of a lifetime."

"It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent," he wrote. "The urgency of this moment demands bold, decisive action to restore trust, advance our legislative priorities, and demonstrate good governance. Our House Republican Conference is united, and eager to work."

"As Speaker, I will ensure the House delivers results and inspires change for the American people. We will restore trust in this body," he wrote, adding: "Let’s get back to work."

“Today is the day that House Republicans will look into our hearts and elect Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House,” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said to applause and cheers of “Mike! Mike! Mike!”

The New York Republican praised her Louisiana colleague as a “titan” on the House Judiciary Committee and a “friend to all,” adding: “Mike is strong, tough and fair — and above all, Mike is kind.”

Democrats, meanwhile, remained united behind House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., just as they did throughout the speaker votes last week and in January.

Johnson has already laid out an ambitious agenda for the Republican conference, writing in a letter dated Monday that lawmakers should try to pass government funding bills by the Nov. 17 deadline — or potentially pass temporary funding measures through Jan. 15 or April 15 — and cancel the House’s August recess if they can’t pass full-year spending bills by then.

“We’re going to serve the people of this country,” Johnson said Tuesday night after he was nominated to become the party’s latest speaker candidate. “We’re going to restore their faith in Congress, this institution of government. America is the last, best hope of man on the Earth.”

“This group here is ready to govern and we’re going to govern well,” he added.

Johnson was first elected to Congress in 2016 and has represented Louisiana in Congress ever since. Before he was tapped to become speaker, Johnson served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference. He was also the GOP deputy whip and a member of the House Judiciary and Armed Service committees.

Johnson is a close ally of former President Donald Trump. Following the 2020 presidential election, Johnson voted against certifying Joe Biden’s victory over Trump and emailed House Republicans urging them to sign an amicus brief in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in swing states.

When asked after if he still believes the 2020 election was stolen, Johnson avoided the question: "We're not talking about any issues today. My position is very well known."

Johnson notably did not win the backing of Trump, who declined to offer an endorsement in the speaker’s race — “because I COULD NEVER GO AGAINST ANY OF THESE FINE AND VERY TALENTED MEN, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory,” he wrote on Truth Social — instead urging a quick end to the speaker standoff.

“My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST!” Trump wrote.

Asked during a news conference Tuesday night if he helped lead the efforts to subvert the election results, Johnson refused to answer, saying, “Next question.” Meanwhile, the House Republicans surrounding him laughed and jeered, and Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina told the reporter to “Shut up.”

He was also one of eight House Republicans whom the White House named to Trump's defense team in his impeachment trial in 2020.

In its scorecard rating members of Congress on how conservative they are, Heritage Action for America gives Johnson an 84% in the current session and 90% for his career. The group knocked Johnson for supporting the deal in May to suspend the debt ceiling.

The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America gave Johnson an A+ rating on the issue, saying he “has voted consistently to defend the lives of the unborn and infants.” When Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, said on Fox News and said that the Supreme Court “invented the right to abortion … out of thin air” with the landmark 1973 ruling and that it took 49 years to “reverse this great tragedy.”

Democrats criticized Johnson’s record, particularly taking umbrage with the Louisiana Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“Mike Johnson has a very pleasant demeanor in terms of how he communicates, but his voting record is as extreme as the most extreme members of [the Republican] conference,” Jeffries at a Center for American Progress conference ahead of the vote, attacking the Louisiana lawmaker for his votes to overturn the election and efforts to undermine Social Security and Medicare.

“Mike Johnson, probably more so than any other member of the House Republican Conference, wants to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban, so later on today we will make clear that we will continue to forcefully push back against that extremism,” Jeffries said.

In his speech formally nominating Jeffries to lead the House, California Rep. Pete Aguilar was heckled by Republicans when he said Johnson was the “architect” of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election — “Damn right,” GOP lawmakers shouted back — and said that the entire speaker race “has been about one thing: who can appease Donald Trump.”

As she cast her vote for Jeffries, Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, the first openly lesbian member of Congress from the state and the first lesbian mother to serve in Congress, wished a "happy wedding anniversary" to her wife.

Johnson, an opponent of same-sex marriage, looked at the floor as Craig cast her vote.

President Joe Biden congratulated Johnson in a statement while urging lawmakers to "move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days."

"I restated my willingness to continue working across the aisle after Republicans won the majority in the House last year," the president said. "By the same token, the American people have made clear that they expect House Republicans to work with me and with Senate Democrats to govern across the aisle – to protect our urgent national security interests and grow our economy for the middle class.

"While House Republicans spent the last 22 days determining who would lead their conference, I have worked on those pressing issues, proposing a historic supplemental funding package that advances our bipartisan national security interests in Israel and Ukraine, secures our border, and invests in the American people," Biden continued. "These priorities have been endorsed by leaders in both parties."

"Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can," he added. "This is a time for all of us to act responsibly, and to put the good of the American people and the everyday priorities of American families above any partisanship."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., similarly expressed a desire to work together with Johnson to avert a shutdown.

"I look forward to sitting down with Speaker Johnson to discuss a path forward to avoid government shutdown," the New York Democrat said. "I will tell him, as I say over and over again, the only way to avoid a shutdown and to pass a supplemental and do things for the American people is bipartisan."

The president also dismissed concerns about Johnson potentially working to overturn the 2024 election results should Biden win once again.

"No," Biden said at a press conference, adding: "Just like I was not worried that the last guy would be able to overturn the election. "They had about 60 lawsuits, they went all the way to the Supreme Court, and every time they lost. I understand the Constitution."