New Speaker Addresses Shootings on First Day in Job

The House was back in session on Thursday, with all eyes on new speaker Mike Johnson and the difficult political calculus he faces. A look at coverage:

• Maine shooting: Johnson talked to reporters about the mass shootings in Maine. "This is a dark time in America," he said, per the AP. Johnson said he hoped the gunman would be captured quickly, with the evangelical adding: "We're really, really hopeful and prayerful. Prayer is appropriate at a time like this, that the evil can end and the senseless violence can stop." Watch his statement via NBC News. Across the political aisle, Democrats including Sen. Chuck Schumer called for a tougher response from Congress, per the New York Daily News.

• Challenges: Beyond the shooting, the Hill lays out five challenges ahead for the Louisiana congressman, including whether he can unify Republicans in a way that former speaker Kevin McCarthy and would-be speakers Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, and Tom Emmer could not. Perhaps the most pressing aspect on this front is reaching a deal acceptable to both the right flank of his party as well as Democrats to ward off a government shutdown by Nov. 17.
• Trump: The Hill also will be watching to see how Johnson deals publicly with Donald Trump. The reason? He "played one of the most significant roles of any member of Congress in the effort to overturn the (2020) election," per the Washington Post. "But unlike some of his more bombastic colleagues, much of it was behind the scenes, through a legal filing, closed-door Republican Party strategy sessions and private conversations with Trump." The story digs into the details.
• Past statements: Axios notes that Johnson has a "20-year paper trail" of statements his political opponents are sure to wield against him. One from 2005 is cited as an example: "Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do," Johnson wrote. "This is a free country, but we don't give special protections for every person's bizarre choices." He also referred to same-sex marriage as a "dangerous lifestyle" in 2004, and he posted earlier this year on X that the fall of Roe v. Wade could make it possible to "get the number of abortions to ZERO!!"

(More Mike Johnson stories.)