By Bo Erickson, Richard Cowan and Katharine Jackson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Mike Johnson appeared to be failing in his bid to retain the top seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, in a sign that President-elect Donald Trump's party may struggle to stay united in Congress this year.
With voting still underway, at least three Republicans have voted for Johnson, possibly leaving a short House speaker with a majority who will want to stay on the job.
Republicans control the chamber with a razor-thin 219-215 majority. As the vote is taken, members still have the opportunity to change their vote or vote if they disagree. The final result was still playing out.
The vote could be an early sign of the party's ability to hang together as it advances Trump's agenda of tax cuts and border enforcement. It could also test Trump's power on Capitol Hill, where a few Republicans have already shown a willingness to oppose him.
The Republican House has been plagued by internal divisions over the past two years. Johnson was promoted to speaker after the party fired his predecessor Kevin McCarthy midway through his tenure.
The House went through 15 rounds of voting over four days in 2023 before electing McCarthy's speaker.
Before the vote, Johnson said he would keep trying if he fails in the first round of voting. So far, no other Republican has challenged Johnson for the role.
The humble Louisiana representative, 52 years old, was catapulted from obscurity to one of the most powerful jobs in Washington during three tumultuous weeks in October 2023, when Republicans ousted McCarthy and struggled to agree on a successor. A conservative Christian lawyer emerged as the consensus choice, but has since struggled to keep the party united.
He has tried to build a closer relationship with Trump, who endorsed him on Monday after weeks of uncertainty.
“Mike's win today would be a huge win for the Republican Party,” Trump wrote online on Friday. Trump returns to the White House on Inauguration Day, Jan.
Whoever gets the position of speaker – the second-ranking role in the office of the president after the vice president – will have a big job. In addition to taking up Trump's legislative agenda, Congress will need to address the national debt ceiling later this year.
With the federal government already over $36 trillion in debt, the majority of Congressional Republicans are expected to demand significant spending cuts.
Republicans were sworn in to their new 53-47 Senate majority on Friday with Senator John Thune as their new leader, succeeding longtime Senator Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down from the leadership but remains in office.
Johnson has angered some conservatives by repeatedly turning to Democrats to secure votes for important legislation, such as bills to keep government agencies open. He faced a last-minute challenge last month when Trump told Republicans to renege on a federal funding agreement, demanding that we increase the national debt.
A revised version of the bill — minus the Trump impeachment requirement — passed the House just hours before the government shutdown, and received more support from Democrats than Republicans.
Congress is scheduled to meet on Monday to confirm President Trump's victory, a task he won't be able to do without a speaker.
Johnson also looked to make his way through the next two years easier, by changing the law agreed by McCarthy that allowed any member of the House to call for the dismissal of the speaker through what is known as a “motion to leave”. Johnson's proposed rules would require a nine-member majority to agree before he could impose the type of vote that led to McCarthy's impeachment.