WASHINGTON (OSV News) ─ Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., was reelected as speaker of the House Jan. 3 after swaying two members of his conference who initially voted against him.
President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump responded to the terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, and a new study examined how Catholics voted in 2024.
-- Johnson wins tight race --
Johnson, who was first elected speaker in 2023 after the historic ouster of then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was endorsed by Trump to keep the role as Johnson navigated a razor-thin majority.
Some House Republicans voiced objections to Johnson, including over his agreement to fund the government in December.
To win, Johnson could only have lost one House Republican. But three -- Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas -- had initially voted for other candidates for speaker on the first ballot, denying Johnson a majority. But Norman and Self were swayed to switch their votes while voting was still open, giving the win to Johnson and sparing him a drawn-out process similar to that of McCarthy.
In Jan. 3 comments to the chamber, Johnson pledged to enact key provisions of Trump's agenda, including efforts to "secure the border" and to roll back the administrative state.
"The American people have called on us to reject business as usual and throw out the status quo," he said. "We must, and we will heed their call."
-- Biden, Trump respond to terror attack --
At least 14 people were killed and dozens wounded in New Orleans after a rented pickup truck driven by suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar plowed into New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street, authorities said. Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran born and raised in Texas, was also killed in a subsequent gunfire exchange with police.
The White House said Jan. 3 that Biden and first lady Jill Biden would travel to New Orleans on Jan. 6.
In a Jan. 1 statement, Biden said he has "been continually briefed since early this morning by federal law enforcement leadership and my homeland security team, including Secretary of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and the Mayor of New Orleans regarding the horrific incident that occurred there overnight."
"The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation and is investigating this incident as an act of terrorism," Biden said. "I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury. I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind."
Biden added his "heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday."
"There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation's communities," he said.
In a Jan. 2 social media post, Trump appeared to blame Biden's immigration policies for the attack, although Jabbar was born and raised a Christian in Beaumont, Texas. He converted to Islam as an adult. Investigators say videos show Jabbar claiming to have joined the Islamic State terror group prior to the summer.
"With the Biden 'Open Border's Policy' I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe," Trump said on his website Truth Social. "That time has come, only worse than ever imagined."
-- Survey examines Catholic voters' shift in 2024 --
A post-election survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI, examined trends in the 2024 electorate, including Catholic voters.
Initial data suggested that Catholic voters swung back to support Trump after narrowly supporting President Joe Biden, the nation's second Catholic president, in 2020. Early exit polls showed Catholics supported Trump over Harris by about a 20-point margin.
The survey also found significant racial and religious divides in voter behavior: 85% of white evangelical Protestants reported that they voted for Trump, as did majorities of white Catholics and white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants at 59% and 57%, respectively. In contrast, strong majorities of Black Protestant voters (83%) and unaffiliated voters (72%) reported voting for Harris.
Hispanic voters overall supported Harris, but by a more narrow margin than they supported Biden in 2020. Hispanic Catholic voters said they supported Harris over Trump at 55% to 43%, while Hispanic Protestant voters said they supported Trump over Harris at 64% to 36%.
Efrén Pérez, professor of political science and psychology at UCLA, said in a recent webinar about the report, "The Latino population itself is dramatically different from what it was in the 80s and even the 90s."
"The reality is that at this point in time it's a native-born conversation," Pérez said. "Three out of five Latinos are born in the U.S. (and) they're increasingly trying to figure out, where do I fit in this racial terrain and where do I fit in this partisan terrain?"
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Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
