Oregon’s Chavez-DeRemer, Bentz join rest of House GOP in voting in Mike Johnson as new speaker

(Update: Bentz issues statement)

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) – Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05) released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives selected Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-04) to serve as the next Speaker of the House:

“To prevent the chaos and dysfunction of the last few weeks from repeating itself, I made it clear that the Republican Conference needed to find a consensus candidate for speaker. The American people, and our allies around the world, are relying on us to come together and demonstrate that we’re able to govern responsibly.

"I’m hopeful that Speaker Johnson will work effectively with all sides of the Conference to advance commonsense, pragmatic legislation that is good for our state and our nation.

"Although I haven’t had the chance to get to know him well, I’ve made Oregon’s priorities very clear to him. As for me, I’ll continue seeking consensus and will always put the best interests of the 5th District first. Let’s get back to work,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, OR-02 also voted with all other party members for Johnson, having backed Jim Jordan previously. His office provided this statement to NewsChannel 21:

"I congratulate Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana on being elected unanimously (by 220 of our Republican colleagues) as our 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives!

"Speaker Johnson has been an effective leader and strong advocate for his state of Louisiana and the Republican Conference. I have had the pleasure of serving for about three years with Mike on the House Judiciary Committee, and I assure that he will do a great job as Speaker."

Chavez-DeRemer did not support Jordan, voting instead for ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy, though statements from both of Oregon's GOP House members decried the eight colleagues who took that action and triggered weeks of turmoil and stalemate.