House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) won reelection to the chamber’s top job Friday in an early sign of unity among House Republicans as they head into the new 119th Congress.
Johnson saw three members of his party vote against him, despite widespread speculation he lacked the votes needed or would have to undergo several rounds of voting in order to win. But then, after some backroom negotiations, two of those lawmakers changed their votes in favor of Johnson.
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With House Republicans’ narrow majority, combined with President-elect Donald Trump picking three GOP members for his Cabinet, Johnson could only afford to lose one vote if all members voted along party lines. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) had already declared he would not vote for Johnson, so Johnson had no room for error in rounding up the votes from his Republican colleagues.
But Johnson had Trump in his corner and tied his own fate to that of Trump’s legislative agenda, which Republicans hope to get a quick jump on this year. Trump, despite being reportedly critical of Johnson’s handling of a year-end temporary spending deal, had publicly endorsed Johnson and did so again Friday morning.
“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!!” Trump posted on social media.
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Republicans hoped to avoid a repeat of January 2023, when they took control of the chamber but needed 15 rounds of voting to settle on then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the speaker. McCarthy made concessions to holdouts to finally get the speaker’s gavel but he ended up being ousted anyway in October of that year.
Johnson had also lobbied his colleagues well into Thursday night in hopes of pulling out a first ballot win.
“My conversations with my colleagues have gone great, and a lot of members have come in very thoughtfully, in good faith, with process improvements and things they’d like to see differently,” he told Fox News.
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