Republican Mike Johnson survived a narrow vote to remain speaker of the House of Representatives in a dramatically anticipated vote that marked the beginning of total Republican control of Washington.
Johnson could only afford to lose two votes because of the little control Republicans have in Congress. Although he came close to losing re-election, he survived the vote after some lobbying.
President-elect Donald Trump previously endorsed Johnson for the role of Speaker of the House, saying “Mike’s victory today will be a great victory for the Republican Party.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is one of the most powerful positions in Washington, controlling the lower house of the US Congress and second in line to the presidency after the vice president.
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has been endorsed by nearly all Republicans in his bid for re-election.
But that success was not without some controversy.
Voting for the president requires the candidate to receive the support of the majority of the House of Representatives – 218 votes. But because of the razor-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Johnson could only withstand the opposition of two Republicans.
Johnson has already faced one firm “no” from Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
“You can pull all my nails out. You can stick bamboo in them. You can start cutting my fingers. I’m not voting for Mike Johnson,” Massie said in a television interview Thursday.
Several other Republicans placed themselves in the “undecided” column heading into the polls.
During the initial vote, three of those undecided Republicans voted for other lawmakers instead of Johnson, preventing him from reaching the 218 votes he needed.
Three lawmakers – Massie, South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman and Texas Congressman Keith Self – named other options for the next speakers.
This prompted Johnson to flee the hall and lobby members to support him. Some 45 minutes later, he returned to the hall of the House.
Both Norman and Self changed their votes to support Johnson.
The gavel fell and Johnson was re-elected.
Norman told reporters after the election that he changed his vote after speaking with Johnson in a room outside the House chamber.
He said Johnson told him there would be more conservatives at the table during negotiations, fewer deals made between congressional leadership and committees without outside input from other lawmakers and enough time to read the text of the bill before a vote is scheduled.
“When we left that little room, he reassured me and Keith (Self),” Norman said. “He (Johnson) said I’ll do it, just give me a chance. He knew and I knew that if there was a second vote, it was going to get harder and harder.”
During the tense presidential election, another player has stepped in – President-elect Donald Trump.
Norman spoke to Trump twice during the chairmanship vote.
The first time fellow Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina gave him her phone to talk to the president-elect. Another was in a meeting with Johnson, Self and a few others.
“(Trump) is just as enthusiastic,” Norman said of speaking with the president-elect. “He said, ‘Norman, we’ve got the biggest opportunity we’ve ever had — House, Senate, the trifecta, you don’t get that opportunity.’ I said, ‘Mr. President, I agree with you, I just hope Mike had the courage to pull this off.’
Norman said the president-elect also said Johnson was the only one with a chance to win the presidency.
Self told reporters after the vote that he spoke with Trump before and after the presidential election.
He said he changed his mind when Johnson promised to bring more members to the negotiating table, including the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
“We supported the reconciliation team because we know this is going to be hard work to get Trump’s agenda across the line in the reconciliation line,” he said.
Friday marked the first day of the 119th Congress. Republicans have sole control of Washington, with majorities in the House and Senate, and Trump returns to the White House later in January.
During his acceptance speech, Johnson said this Congress will champion the idea of America First — a slogan promoted by Trump.
After Trump’s re-election, he said Americans are asking for their interests to be put first again.
“And we will,” Johnson said.
Voting for a new speaker is the first requirement of a new session of Congress, and without that speaker in place, the House cannot move on to any other function.
That has led to chaos in the past — including when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had to go through 15 rounds of voting before being confirmed to the top job.
Minutes before Friday’s vote, Johnson posted on X several of his plans, should he be elected.
He promised to create a “task force of independent experts” to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump has appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to lead.
That task force, he said, will review existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress and issue a report.
“If we want to restore fiscal responsibility, we must start by being transparent about the dollars spent, addressing the problems we find, and then holding accountable those who misspent,” Johnson wrote.
