For the second time in one day, House Republicans have named a speaker designate.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) is the latest Republican to be nominated for the House speakership in an increasingly chaotic race that saw the previous choice drop out just four hours after getting the nod. 

The 51-year-old edged out Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on the third ballot of a closed-door conference vote Tuesday night, with 128 members pledging their support to the vice chairman of the House Republican conference. 

The Louisiana Republican, who serves on the House Judiciary and Armed Services committee, received 85 votes on the first ballot and 97 votes on the second ballot, according to reports. 

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reportedly received 43 votes cast for “other” during the third round of balloting and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) who dropped out of the race last week, received one vote. 

Heading into Tuesday night’s vote, Johnson was competing against Donalds, Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Roger Williams (R-Texas) and Kevin Hern (R-Okla.). 

Fleischmann was eliminated on the first ballot, and Williams was beaten on the second, during which Green dropped out of the race. Johnson topped Donalds on the third ballot in a 128-29 vote.

Hern dropped out shortly before the caucus vote.

The Oklahoma Republican, rated as one of the most pro-limited government lawmakers in Congress by the conservative nonprofit Institute for Legislative Analysis, briefly re-entered the contest after dropping out earlier Tuesday to back Johnson in his race against House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)

While eventually losing to Emmer, Johnson earned support from 97 members after four earlier rounds of voting eliminated Austin Scott of Georgia, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Pete Sessions of Texas, Hern and Donalds.

House Republicans have gone three weeks without a leader since McCarthy was ousted on Oct. 3 by eight of their own members, plunging the caucus into chaos.

Johnson is the fourth Republican congressman to be nominated for the speakership.

Emmer’s nomination earlier on Tuesday triggered sharp opposition from dozens of holdouts and criticism from former President Donald Trump.

The 62-year-old Minnesota Republican withdrew his candidacy just four hours after edging out Johnson on the fifth ballot of a closed-door conference vote, with 117 members pledging their support to the second-ranking House Republican.

Twenty-six “Never Emmer” holdouts came forward in a subsequent roll call vote to oppose the whip in a ballot to gauge the level of support on the House floor.

“I would vote for a conservative,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who was one of the holdouts, told reporters upon exiting the GOP meeting. “Tom Emmer is not a conservative.”

Banks further accused the “left-flank of our conference” of “holding our conference hostage” over their support of Emmer and “pushing Republicans to betray our voters and abandon our promises to the American people.”

Former President Donald Trump chimed in as well, denouncing Emmer as a “Globalist RINO” and claiming that electing him speaker “would be a tragic mistake!”

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) received a nominating vote for House speaker Oct. 11, but never went up for a floor vote.

Jordan won support from a majority of the Republican conference before falling short in three consecutive rounds of voting on the House floor last week, with at least 20 GOP members casting ballots against the Judiciary Committee chairman on every ballot.

Emmer, Jordan and Scalise needed at least 217 votes to win the gavel, giving each a narrow, four-vote margin of error.

“It’s amazing to me that we’re in a position where you have some people who think that a speaker candidate has to agree with them on every major and most every minor issue of the day,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) said Tuesday.

“It’s going to be hard to ever get anybody elected.”

The House needs a permanent speaker in place in order to move any legislation, including President Biden’s urgent funding request for billions of dollars in aid for Israel and Ukraine.

The lower chamber also faces a looming Nov. 17 deadline to fund the government in order to keep it open.

Johnson addressed reporters after his win, flanked by dozens of his GOP colleagues, including House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Scalise.

“Democracy is messy sometimes, but it is our system. This conference that you see, this House Republican majority, is united,” he said.

“You’re going to see a new form of government and we’re going to move this quickly,” Johnson added, noting that he expects a vote by the full House on his nomination Wednesday at noon.

If elected, Johnson would be the first speaker of the House from the Bayou State in US history.