US President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Los Angeles) while meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, November 13, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump He called back on a colleague Republicans To select Representative Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House House of Representatives On Friday, as 119 Congress Ready to come to the session.
Trump's support came on social media with Johnson – whose current term has ended Speaker It expired at 11 a.m. ET — and faces a very likely vote in the House, where the GOP has a razor-thin majority.
If every one of the House's 434 members shows up to vote, Johnson would need nearly every Republican to vote for him to become president.
“Good luck today to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a good man with great abilities, who is very close to 100% support,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“A Mike win today would be a huge win for the Republican Party, and another recognition of our most important presidential election in 129 years!!” Trump wrote. “Really big confirmation. MAGA!”
Johnson, who represents a district in Louisiana, needs a majority of House members to vote on Friday to become speaker of the 119th Congress. Voting is scheduled to begin sometime before 1 p.m. ET.
Republicans have 219 seats in the new Congress. Democrats, who are set to nominate Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York as Speaker of the House, hold 215 seats.
This narrow split means that if every House member were present and every Democrat voted for Jeffries, Johnson would need at least 218 Republican votes to be elected president.
If two or more Republicans decided to vote for someone else, Johnson's overall support would fall below 218, and he would not be elected president in that vote.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has already said he does not plan to support Johnson, leaving absolutely no margin if Massie follows through on his pledge.
Johnson was first elected president on October 25, 2023, three weeks after then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, was ousted from that slot when a handful of Republican members joined every Democrat in voting to remove him.
Johnson was the fourth candidate to be considered to replace McCarthy.
McCarthy had been Speaker of Parliament for just nine months when he was sacked – and was first elected Speaker in January 2023 after four days of voting and 15 ballots.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
