US President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as he meets with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, US on November 13, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump a colleague called again Republicans to select Rep. Mike Johnson as speaker House of Representatives on Friday, as 119 Congress ready to come to the meeting.
Trump’s support on social media came as Johnson — whose current term as loudspeaker expired at 11 a.m. ET — facing a potentially very close vote in the House of Representatives, where the GOP has a very slim majority.
If every one of the 434 members of the House of Representatives shows up for a vote, Johnson will need almost all Republicans to vote for him to become president.
“Congratulations today to Speaker Mike Johnson, a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“Mike’s victory today will be a huge victory for the Republican Party and another recognition of our 129 years of most consistent presidential elections!!” Trump wrote. “TRULY A BIG AFFIRMATION. MAGA!”
Johnson, who represents a Louisiana district, needs a majority of the House members present to vote Friday to become speaker of the 119th Congress. Voting should begin sometime before 1:00 PM ET.
Republicans have 219 seats in the new Congress. Democrats, who are expected to nominate Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York for speaker, have 215 seats.
That narrow split means that if every member of the House of Representatives is present and every Democrat votes for Jeffries, Johnson will need at least 218 Republican votes to be elected president.
If two or more Republicans decide to vote for someone else, Johnson’s total support would fall below 218 and he would not be elected speaker on that vote.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has already said he does not plan to endorse Johnson, leaving no margin if Massie follows through on his pledge.
Johnson was first elected chairman on Oct. 25, 2023, three weeks after then-Rep. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from that seat when several Republican members joined every Democrat in voting to remove him.
Johnson was the fourth candidate considered to replace McCarthy.
McCarthy himself had been president for just nine months when he was ousted — he was first elected president in January 2023 after four days of voting and 15 ballots.
This is news in development. Check back for updates.
