WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Paul Ryan captured enough House votes Thursday to become the chamber's next speaker, as a splintered Republican Party turned to the youthful but seasoned lawmaker to mend its self-inflicted wounds and craft a conservative message to woo voters in next year's elections.
In a slow-moving roll call that mixed politics with pageantry, 218 lawmakers — a majority — called out the Wisconsin Republican's name as their pick for the job. That assured that Ryan will become the 54th speaker, presiding over a chamber that has been awash in tumult ever since defiant conservatives hounded John Boehner, R-Ohio, into announcing his resignation from that post last month.