Good morning. I'm Playbook editor Mike DeBonis. It's Thursday, October 26th. Here's what's driving the day.

We're following news of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine last night, with multiple news outlets reporting at least 22 dead.

The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, and Maine

Senator Angus King said he was headed to Lewiston on the first available flight, quote,

given the horrific nature of the events, unquote. We're also following the first signs of a breakthrough

in the six-week-old United Auto Workers' Strike against the Big Three domestic automakers.

The UAW yesterday announced that it had reached a tentative agreement with Ford,

raising hopes that the end of the strike could be near.

The agreement, however, still needs to be presented to and ratified by union members,

and there's no guarantee that the other two General Motors or Stalantis will quickly follow suit.

And finally, we're waking up for the first time in 23 days with an elected speaker of the

House. It's four-term representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who was sworn in yesterday

after succeeding where Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmer could not,

uniting House Republicans behind him.

Joining me now to discuss everything you ever wanted to know

about the new House speaker is our Politics Bureau Chief

and Senior columnist Jonathan Martin.

Good morning, Jaymart.

Hey, Mike, thanks for having me.

Thanks for joining me from Mary Old England, it turns out.

Here you.

What a treat.

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