Paul Ryan renominated House Speaker in a unanimous vote

Impact

House Republicans unanimously renominated Paul Ryan to serve as Speaker Tuesday afternoon, giving him the task of shepherding through President-elect Donald Trump's agenda when he takes office in 2017.

To be sure, Ryan won't officially be elected speaker until January, when his nomination will come up for a vote from the full House. He'll need to secure 218 votes, or more than half of the body's 435 members — an easy threshold to achieve, as Republicans will hold at least 239 seats in the 115th Congress.

Ryan and Trump haven't always gotten along, with Ryan taking months to get behind Trump as the nominee of the GOP.

But after Trump pulled off a surprising victory, Ryan has said he is behind the president-elect.

"Welcome to the dawn of a new unified Republican government," Ryan said Tuesday.

Still, uniting the fractured House Republican conference could be a challenging task for Ryan.

Ryan has some personal policy disagreements with Trump, including on trade and entitlement reform. 

It's unclear whether he would choose to buck Trump's plans on the issue, and how the members of the House Republicans he leads would react.

Still, avoiding a contentious leadership battle likely comes as a relief to Republicans, who now have the task of governing after eight years of Democratic reign in the White House.  

Nov. 15, 2016, 2:57 p.m. Eastern: This story has been updated.