Meet the Clerk Who Kept Order While the House Chose Its Leader

Standing up to nominate Rep. Byron Donalds for House speaker, Republican Rep. Chip Roy addressed the woman presiding over the chamber as “Madam speaker.” The third-term congressman quickly corrected himself. “Madam clerk,” he acknowledged with a smile. The flub, coming on the second day of voting, illustrated the rising stature of House clerk Cheryl Johnson, a central figure in the drama that became a dayslong effort to select a speaker. Round by round, she called for the start of each vote and announced at the end that, once again, no speaker had been elected. That is, until early Saturday morning,more