As Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson Rep. Derek Van Orden, R-Wis., is aiming to keep his job, and took aim at fellow Republican Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has indicated he is “undecided” about whether to vote for Johnson.
President-elect Donald Trump He endorsed Johnson for the position this week, but Roy indicated during an appearance on Fox Business that he did not believe the Speaker would have the votes needed to win during next Friday's vote.
Van Orden asserted in a post on the X website that Trump “received a mandate from the American people in November,” while Roy “did not.”
“It's an America First agenda, not a Chip Roy First agenda. It's making America great again, not making Chip Roy great. President Trump is fighting for America, and Chip is fighting to keep his brand marketable,” Van Orden claimed.
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“Some people seem to need to understand that to be a leader, you have to learn how to follow through first. I love working with Chip, but he needs to understand that he can be part of the team, but there's no way in hell he's the captain. The captain will come back.” To the White House soon and his first lieutenant is @SpeakerJohnson.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Roy's spokesperson to request comment from the congressman.
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, announced that he would not vote for Johnson to remain Speaker.
Roy indicated that he is “ambivalent” about Johnson, but is demanding change.
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Roy said in a post on Twitter: “Rep. Thomas Massie will not vote for Hakeem Jeffries, unlike the Republican Party, which voted with Democrats (more than Democrats each time) to spend about $3 trillion and give $61 billion to Ukraine without border security.” “. X.
“The reason I'm still hesitant about the Speaker's vote (instead of a firm no) is because it's not @SpeakerJohnson's fault and my desire is to give him the grace and space for @realDonaldTrump to advance the strong agenda we were elected for and signal that something has to change.
Johnson's path to victory is fraught with danger, and could be derailed if another Republican joins Massie in strongly opposing Johnson's bid to retain the speakership.
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Fox News Chief Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram explained, “The winning candidate must receive an absolute majority of all members voting for a named candidate.”
Pergram described a possible scenario in which just two Republicans could prevent Johnson from reaching the threshold needed to win. “So let's say there are 434 members and they all vote for someone by name. The magic number is 218. If Johnson gets the votes of all 219 Republicans, he wins. If Johnson gets 218 votes, he wins, too. But 217? No dice.” “Pergram noted.