Washington Supported by President-elect Donald Trump, Rep. Mike Johnson defeated a small right-wing uprising that eventually gave way to earn a narrow victory on Friday for his first full two-year term as speaker of the House.
On the first ballot, Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana who identifies as a MAGA conservative, received the 218 votes required to be re-elected speaker. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, garnered 215 votes.
Only one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, ultimately voted against Johnson.
Republicans now formally control both chambers of Congress with Johnson’s victory, allowing them to start preparing for a second Trump administration and the comprehensive legislative agenda he has promised supporters. On Monday, January 6, the fourth anniversary of the Capitol attack, Congress is scheduled to certify Trump’s electoral victory.
Additionally, on January 20, Trump will take the oath of office at the Capitol.
Stay tuned for real-time updates.
In defiance of Trump and with the possibility of paralyzing the House, which cannot do any business until a speaker is elected, three conservative rebels first voted to prevent Johnson from being re-elected speaker.
Nine Republicans publicly wavered during the speaker’s vote, including two who first supported other candidates before switching to Johnson, and six more who abstained from voting during the first roll call. These nine are significant because, under to the GOP’s new rules package, it will take nine MPs to act to remove Johnson from his position as speaker and remove him from office.
Massie, who has been vocally opposing Johnson for weeks, voted for Tom Emmer, the Republican majority whip. Additionally, Rep. Keith Self of Texas voted for Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, while Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina voted for Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
But at that point, Trump started to get involved, personally calling the holdouts several times to persuade them to support Johnson in carrying out his plan. Trump called Republican Representative Nancy Mace while he was playing golf, and Mace then handed the phone to her colleague Norman of South Carolina, the latter stated.
He remarked, ‘Norman, we have three houses, the trifecta, and more opportunities than we’ve ever had. You’re not given that chance. Norman remembered. “And I said, ‘Mr. President, I agree with you but I’m just hoping Mike has got the oomph to pull it off.”
Later, before adjourning the vote, Johnson gathered with Norman and Self in the cloakroom just off the floor, along with important conservative voters who supported him, such as former Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md.
According to Norman, Trump was put on the phone with the holdouts once more. “Get united!” was the president’s message to the group, Johnson said.
After about twenty minutes, they came out, and Self and Norman shifted their votes in favor of the speaker. All members of the House were sworn in when Johnson was elected and sworn in; earlier in the day, new senators were sworn in.
Following the vote, Johnson told reporters, “President Trump is probably the most powerful president in the modern era, maybe in all of American history.” Additionally, his impact and voice are extremely significant.
“I am so appreciative of his assistance. It humbles me, and I believe that had a significant role,” the speaker continued. “And he wants us to unify as an as a conference, and to get the job done and we must.”
Self said he flipped to yes after securing a commitment from Johnson that more conservatives, including Freedom Caucus members, will be included on the internal GOP team that is negotiating the “reconciliation” package that will serve as the vehicle to enact Trump’s agenda.
“We needed to shore up the processes to make it more member-oriented for the Trump agenda,” Self told reporters, “because we needed more input from members like myself not a chairman, not a leadership position and I think that’s what we have done.”
Just 15 months ago, Johnson, then the No. 7 GOP leader, rose from obscurity to become speaker following a conservative coup that toppled Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. During the three weeks that followed, several of McCarthy s top lieutenants including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. vied to win the prized gavel but fell short.
Johnson, a Trump ally with little name recognition and no known enemies, emerged from the dust victorious. During the past year, he struck deals with Democrats on spending, controversial Ukraine aid and the renewal of a powerful surveillance program known asFISA Section 702.
But it was precisely those bipartisan deals that infuriated some of his critics on the right. Massie, a libertarian-minded fiscal conservative from Kentucky, was the most vocal, vowing early on that he would oppose Johnson for speaker in Friday s floor vote.
Johnson had argued that a protracted House floor fight over the speaker s gavel similar to the15-round battleMcCarthy endured two years ago would delay the House s work on implementing Trump s 2025 agenda.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky.,pleaded with his colleagues to elect Johnson quickly.
I hope not. I hope not. I hope not, Barr said when he was asked whether it would again take multiple ballots to elect a speaker. Unity is our strength and our leverage. … Do we really need to be spending multiple rounds fighting with one another?
As they prepare for their GOP trifecta in Washington, Trump and congressional Republicans have laid out an ambitious agenda for 2025. They plan to use an arcane process known as budgetreconciliationto bypass Democrats and renew the expiring tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first administration, as well as beef up border security, crack down on illegal immigration and tackle high energy costs.
“The path of prosperity has long been paved with policies that put America and Americans first, and that is what we will champion in the 119th Congress,” a beaming Johnson said in a speech from the House dais after his election. “We have a mandate and that was shown in the election cycle that people want an America First agenda.”
Johnson added that Republicans would “cut the size and scope” of the federal government, expedite new drilling permits, deport “dangerous” undocumented immigrants and complete Trump’s border wall.
There is agrowing divisionwithin the GOP over strategy for advancing Trump’s agenda, with some pushing for doing it all in one bill and others saying break it up and bag a victory on border security first before turning to taxes later in the year.
Johnson, pressed Thursday by Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow to pursue the one-bill strategy, kept his powder dry, saying there is a “compelling case” for it but that Republicans are still evaluating the path forward.
In addition to navigating a busy legislative agenda, the new Republican-controlled Senate will have to hold hearings and confirmation votes for Trump s Cabinet nominees. Incoming Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is threatening to make senators work Fridays which they rarely do to get their work done.
Asked how long he expects that to last, Thune spokesman Ryan Wrasse told NBC News, As long as it takes.
Now that Johnson has secured the gavel for the next two years, the coming days will be busy on Capitol Hill.
Congress is scheduled to certify Trump’s presidential election victory on Monday. And, later in the week, former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, willlie in state in the Capitol Rotundafrom Tuesday afternoon until Thursday morning. Johnson and Thune are expected to speak at a congressional tribute shortly after Carter s casket arrives.
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