Republicans re-elect Mike Johnson as US House speaker in nail-biting vote

The United States House of Representatives has re-elected Republican Mike Johnson as its speaker, in a vote seen as a nail-biting test of party unity in advance of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

But Johnson’s campaign to keep the speaker’s gavel was not without its bumps on Friday.

Johnson emerged victorious after an uncertain first round of voting, as some members of his party initially withheld their votes over issues like his role in the recent bipartisan budget negotiations.

He ultimately won the speakership with 218 votes out of a total of 435, after two of the holdouts — Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas — changed their votes.

Another 215 votes, all Democratic, went to minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. Representative Thomas Massie, who had pledged to refuse Johnson, cast his vote for fellow Republican Tom Emmer.

The tight vote underscored the narrow margin of control Republicans have over the chamber. With only 219 seats in the House, Republicans will need nearly every vote they have to reach a majority in a party-line vote.

That may give certain far-right members greater sway over legislation, as they exercise their leverage.

Friday’s vote for Johnson also put Trump’s ability to muster Republican votes under the microscope. He had called on the party to back Johnson, as he prepares to pursue an ambitious agenda of tax cuts and mass deportation when he takes office on January 20.

A new Congress for 2025

The vote for the speakership came on the first day of the 119th Congress, following November’s general election. Republicans hold majorities in both the House and the Senate, after flipping the upper chamber from Democratic control.

The race for the speakership was expected to be a nail-biter as the House gathered for its first session of the new year.

Several Republicans had pledged in the lead-up to the session to reject Johnson, particularly after he led a bipartisan push to pass a temporary budget bill in December.

Some objected to the lack of spending cuts. Others felt frustration that the bill did not address the federal borrowing limit, as President-elect Trump had demanded.

But on Friday morning, top Republicans appeared to rally around Johnson, including Trump himself.

“Good luck today for Speaker Mike Johnson, a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support,” Trump wrote on social media.

“A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!”

While Trump had previously endorsed Johnson, he had also said the “others are very good, too”.

Later, on the House floor, Representative Lisa McClain, another leading Republican, gave a speech to nominate Johnson. She placed his leadership in the context of broader party priorities.

“We have the opportunity to put America first again. We have an opportunity to do something about crime. We have an opportunity to do something about the border. And we have an opportunity to take care of our veterans,” McClain said.

She briefly appeared to acknowledge the possibility of party discord over the vote.

“No speaker is perfect. And no one will ever be. However, achieving perfection requires incremental gains and hard decisions along the way. None of us will get exactly what we want,” McClain said.

Johnson himself exuded an air of confidence when he arrived at the Capitol on Friday, having spent the night seeking to win over hardline holdouts.

“We don’t have time for drama,” Johnson said as he walked into the Capitol on Friday.

A tight vote

Nevertheless, after the roll-call vote was held, Johnson was initially shy of the 218 votes needed for victory.

Three Republicans initially cast their votes for other candidates. Norman tapped Jim Jordan, Massie backed Emmer and Self put forward Byron Donalds.

Several other Republicans — including Chip Roy of Texas, another Johnson critic — offered no vote at all. But when asked after the first vote if they would back a candidate, Roy and others supported Johnson.

A group of Republicans — including several holdouts — briefly left the House floor with Johnson to negotiate. When they returned, Norman and Self changed their vote.

In a Friday post on the social media platform X, Massie explained why he would remain a holdout, voting “hell no” on Johnson’s leadership. He expressed fear Johnson would not be able to enact Trump’s legislative priorities.

“President Trump’s agenda needs to become law. Speaker Johnson has already demonstrated he is not the man who can get that done,” Massie wrote.

Trump agenda

The speakership election comes after Republicans also elected John Thune as the Senate’s majority leader, with Chuck Schumer representing the Democratic minority in the chamber.

Thune has pledged to shepherd through Trump’s agenda, despite the fact that Republicans hold only 53 seats in the 100-person chamber. That falls short of the 60-vote supermajority needed to overcome the filibuster, a means for the minority to stall or scuttle legislation.

Both chambers of Congress will be faced with several controversial pieces of legislation this upcoming year, setting the stage for heated battles.

Congress will need to revisit the question of funding the federal government when the current budget bill expires in March. And it will also need to weigh raising the debt ceiling — the amount the federal government is able to borrow — later this year.

The federal government already has more than $36 trillion in debt, and many congressional Republicans are expected to demand significant spending cuts going forward.

The election of a House speaker, once considered a ho-hum ceremony, has become increasingly contentious in recent years. In 2023, the chamber went through 15 rounds of voting over four days before electing Kevin McCarthy to the role.

Johnson, a low-profile conservative Christian lawyer from Louisiana, was elevated to speaker after the party ousted McCarthy in the middle of his term.

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