House GOPs Nominate Paul Ryan for Speaker

House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) won the closed-door election in the House Republican Caucus to be the next speaker of the House.

He secured 200 votes — and needs 218 to win on the House floor tomorrow.

Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), who was the choice of the House Freedom Caucus, got 43 votes. One person voted for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and one voted for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

How that translates to the final vote on the House floor is unclear, but it sets up some wheeling and dealing in the next 24 hours to pick off 18 votes.

Ryan could possibly pick up some Dem votes, as well. There are currently 15 members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition.

Flanked by Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and McCarthy, Ryan declared to reporters after the vote that “this begins a new day in the House of Representatives.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Ryan said, “served with humility and distinction and we owe him a debt of gratitude.”

But he said it was time for a new path forward from the past few years.

“Our party has lost its vision and we’re going to replace it with a vision,” Ryan vowed, adding that he wants to “give this country a better way forward, to give this country an alternative.”

Ryan did not take questions.

After meeting with the Freedom Caucus last week, Ryan earned a “supermajority” of support. But the caucus didn’t officially drop Webster as their nominee.

So after making a point with their caucus votes, some could switch to support the nominee Ryan in the Thursday House vote.

Webster received 12 votes including his own in the last speaker’s election, when House conservatives unsuccessfully tried to muster enough anti-Boehner votes to drive the voting to a second round.

Freedom Caucus chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox last night that Ryan told the caucus “what our guys wanted to hear,” and “that’s why a supermajority of our group has endorsed Congressman Ryan” for speaker.

“He also assured us there’s no way he’s going to bring up an immigration bill. Maybe a border security bill, that we actually do the right thing,” Jordan said.