Republican Mike Johnson survived a narrow vote to remain speaker of the House of Representatives in a drama-filled, long-awaited vote that marked the beginning of total Republican control of Washington.
Johnson could only afford to lose two votes because of tight Republican control of Congress. Although he came close to losing re-election, he survived the vote after some lobbying.
President-elect Donald Trump previously endorsed Johnson for the role of House speaker, saying “a win for Mike today would be a big win for the Republican Party.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is one of the most powerful positions in Washington, controlling the lower house of the US Congress and second only to the Vice President.
Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, had the support of nearly all Republicans in his bid for re-election.
But this success was not without some controversy.
Voting for the Speaker requires the candidate to receive the support of the majority of the House – 218 votes. But with a razor-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Johnson could only withstand opposition from two Republicans.
Johnson has already received a firm no from Congressman Thomas Massey of Kentucky.
“You can pull out all my fingernails. You can stick bamboo in them. You can start cutting my fingers. I'm not going to vote for Mike Johnson,” Massey said Thursday in a televised interview.
Several other Republicans had placed themselves in the “undecided” column for the vote.
During initial votes, three of those undecided Republicans voted for other lawmakers instead of Johnson, preventing him from reaching the 218 votes he needed.
Three lawmakers — Massey, South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman and Texas Rep. Keith Self — named other options for next speaker.
This prompted Johnson to run from the chamber and lobby members to support him. About 45 minutes later, he returned to the hall.
Both Norman and Self changed their votes to support Johnson.
The hammer went down and Johnson won re-election.
Norman told reporters after the election that he changed his vote after speaking with Johnson in a room off the House floor.
He said Johnson told him there would be more conservatives at the table during negotiations, fewer deals made between congressional leadership and committees without outside input from other lawmakers and enough time to read the text of the bill. before votes are scheduled.
“When we left that little room, he convinced me and Keith (Self),” Norman said. “He (Johnson) said I'll do it, just give me a chance. He knew, and I knew, that if it got to the second vote, it was going to get harder and harder.”
Another player has entered the tense presidential election — President-elect Donald Trump.
Norman spoke with Trump twice during the speaker vote.
The first time was when Republican Nancy Mays of South Carolina gave him her phone to talk to the president-elect. The second was during a meeting with Johnson, Self and a few others.
“(Trump) is just as enthusiastic,” Norman said of speaking with the president-elect. “He said, 'Norman, we have the biggest opportunity we've ever had — the House, the Senate, the trifecta, you're not getting that opportunity.' I said, 'Mr. President, I agree with you, I just hope that Mike has succeeded in doing so.'
Norman said the president-elect also said Johnson was the only one with a chance to win the presidency.
Self told reporters after the vote that he spoke with Trump before and after the presidential election.
He said he changed his mind when Johnson promised more members would be at the negotiating table, including from the House's far-right Freedom Caucus.
“We supported the reconciliation team because we know it's going to be a tall order to get Trump's agenda across the reconciliation line,” he said.
Friday marked the first day of the 119th Congress. Republicans have unified control of Washington with majorities in both the House and Senate, and Trump returns to the White House later in January.
During his acceptance speech, Johnson said this Congress will defend America First, a slogan promoted by Trump.
After Trump's re-election, he said Americans are demanding that their interests be put first again.
“And we will,” Johnson said.
Voting for a new speaker is the first requirement of the new session of Congress, and without that leader in place, the chamber cannot move on to another 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 being confirmed as leader.
Minutes before Friday's vote, Johnson posted on X several of his plans if elected.
He promised to create a “task force 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 head.
That task force, he said, will review existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress and issue a report.
“If we want to restore fiscal responsibility, we must start with transparency about the dollars being spent, address the problems we find, and then hold accountable those who misspent funds,” Johnson wrote.