John Boehner was reelected Thursday. (courtesy Creative Commons)

The Daily Beast reported:

Most Republican members like Boehner personally and appreciate his low-key style. There’s also an iron law in politics that you can’t beat something with nothing. With no prominent challenger having emerged, Boehner was always going to skate to a second two-year term.

Boehner won with 220 votes, although there were eight defectors and four abstentions—a small, but unmistakable protest vote. The Republican majority in the House has been reduced to 17 seats, and the most conservative faction would have needed only that many votes to force a second round of balloting.

The last two years have been difficult for Boehner. He was unable to get enough votes for his Plan B alternative to end the fiscal cliff.

He also had difficulty in 2011 with the federal-debt ceiling.

Still, his reelection to the position means that he will be speaker for two more years in a House with 232 Republican members.