Republican Mike Johnson survived a razor-thin vote to remain Speaker of the House in a high-stakes, drama-filled vote that marked the beginning of complete Republican control of Washington.
Johnson could only afford to lose by two votes because of the narrow margin of control enjoyed by Republicans in Congress. While he was on the verge of losing re-election, he survived the vote after some pressure.
President-elect Donald Trump had previously endorsed Johnson for the role of Speaker of the House of Representatives, saying that “Mike's victory today would be a huge win for the Republican Party.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is one of the most powerful positions in Washington, as he controls the House of Representatives in the US Congress, and is second in line to the presidency after the Vice President.
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, had the support of nearly all Republicans in his re-election bid.
But this success was not without some controversy.
Voting for Council President requires a candidate to have the support of a majority of Council members – 218 votes. But because of the extremely small Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Johnson could only face opposition from two Republicans.
Johnson has already faced a tough rebuff from Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
“You can pull out all my nails. You can stick bamboo in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I'm not voting for Mike Johnson,” Massey said Thursday in a television interview.
Many other Republicans placed themselves in the “undecided” column before voting.
During the primary votes, three of those undecided Republicans voted for other lawmakers over Johnson, preventing him from reaching the 218 votes he needed.
Three lawmakers — Massie, South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman and Texas Congressman Keith Self — have named other options to serve as new speaker.
This prompted Johnson to flee the House floor and lobbyists to support him. After about 45 minutes, he returned to the House of Representatives hall.
Both Norman and Self switched their votes to support Johnson.
The gavel struck and Johnson won re-election.
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 struck between congressional and committee leadership 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, Keith and I were convinced (we),” Norman said. He added, “He (Johnson) said I will do it, just give me the chance. He knew and I knew that if the second election took place it would get tougher.”
Another player has been involved throughout the tense speakership election — President-elect Donald Trump.
Norman spoke with Trump twice during the Speaker of the House vote.
The first time was when fellow Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina handed him her phone to speak with the president-elect. The second was during his meeting with Johnson, Self and several others.
“(Trump) is just as excited,” Norman said of the call with the president-elect. “He said, ‘Norman, we have the greatest opportunity we've ever had — the House, the Senate, the Triumvirate, you don't get that opportunity.' And I said, 'Mr. President, I agree with you, and I just hope Mike has the ability to get this done.' .
Norman said the president-elect also said that Johnson is the only person who has the ability to win election as Speaker of the House.
Self told reporters after the vote that he spoke with Trump before and after the House Speaker was elected.
He said he changed his mind when Johnson pledged to have more members, including from the far-right House Freedom Caucus, at the negotiating table.
“We supported the reconciliation team because we know this will be a big boost to getting Trump's agenda across the line at reconciliation,” he said.
Friday was the first day of the 119th Congress. Republicans are consolidating control of Washington, with majorities in both the House and Senate, and with Trump returning to the White House later in January.
During his acceptance speech, Johnson said this Congress will stand up for the idea of America First — a slogan promoted by Trump.
He said that after Trump's re-election, Americans are demanding that their interests be put first again.
“And we will,” Johnson said.
Voting for a new president is the first requirement of the new session of Congress, and without that leader, the House cannot move on to any other function.
This has led to chaos in the past — including when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had to go through 15 rounds of voting before he could be confirmed as leader.
Minutes before the vote on Friday, Johnson posted on X several of his plans, if elected.
He promised to form a “working group composed of independent experts” to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to lead.
This working group will review existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress and issue a report, he said.
“If we want to restore fiscal responsibility, we must start by being transparent about the dollars spent, addressing the problems we discover, and then holding accountable those who misspent the money,” Johnson wrote.
