GOP lawmaker discusses why he switched his vote to support Mike Johnson in heated House Speaker vote
Speaker-designate Mike Johnson, R-La., he was re-elected to lead the House of Representatives on Friday despite losing one fellow Republican in the final vote tally.
In the end, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote against Johnson, but it could have been worse for the House speaker. Reps. Keith Self, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, RS.C., initially voted for someone else, but switched their support to Johnson.
Norman told Fox News that he changed his vote after receiving some reassurance from Johnson.
“I said, ‘Mike, are you going to give us specific examples of fighting for the things we mentioned? Are you going to give us your word?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So I said, ‘OK, we’ll take your word for it.’ That’s why I changed my voice,” Norman explained Friday on “Story.”
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Johnson’s future seemed uncertain at one point Friday afternoon when he Norman, Massie and Self voted for someone other than him for speaker, putting the gavel seemingly out of reach.
Johnson then huddled with Self, Norman and other lawmakers behind closed doors before the vote adjourned. Both later came forward and changed their votes to support Johnson.
Norman said his initial opposition was rooted in concerns about whether Johnson was “willing to fight for Trump’s agenda.”
“Yesterday we met with Chairman Johnson for a long time and I just didn’t feel like there was any fuss or willingness to fight for the Trump plan,” he told “The Story.”
Norman stood by his initial decision to vote against Johnson, arguing that he had “the only way for my voice to be heard.”
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Ultimately, the Louisiana Republican won on party lines during the first round of voting, a sharp contrast to the 15-round battle of his predecessor Kevin McCarthy in 2023.
Johnson’s re-election victory comes despite gun-rattling by some conservatives who have threatened to withhold support from Johnson in protest of his handling of government funding and several other issues in the 118th Congress.
“I think he now understands the fact that there aren’t more suspension votes, where we’re allowing more Democratic votes than Republicans — that’s what’s killing the country,” Norman said. “If we’re going to do the same thing over and over again as we’ve done for the last 14 months, we’re going to be in the same position. I’m just not willing to go along with that, and I’m not.”
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“Mike has a tremendous opportunity to show the American people that he’s not just going to say it, he’s going to fight it. He’s going to have Trump supports himwhich is all good.”
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
