Johnson re-elected as House Speaker by a narrow margin

Republican Mike Johnson narrowly escaped a vote to remain House Speaker in a drama-filled, highly anticipated vote that marked the beginning of complete Republican control in Washington.

Due to the narrow margin of Republican control of Congress, Johnson could only afford to lose two votes. Although he came close to losing re-election, he was saved from the vote after some lobbying.

President-elect Donald Trump had previously endorsed Johnson for the role of House Speaker, saying “Mike’s victory today would be a huge victory for the Republican Party”.

The House Speaker is one of the most powerful positions in Washington, controlling the lower house of the US Congress, and is second in line to the presidency after the Vice President.

Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, had the support of nearly all Republicans in his bid for re-election.

But that success was not without some controversy.

To vote for Speaker, a candidate must receive the support of a majority of the House – 218 votes. But due to the razor-thin Republican majority in the House, Johnson faced opposition from only two Republicans.

Johnson already faced a tough “no” from Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

“You can rip out all my nails. You can stick bamboo in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I’m not voting for Mike Johnson,” Massey said in a television interview Thursday.

Several other Republicans had put themselves in the “undecided” column before the vote.

During the early votes, three of those undecided Republicans voted for other lawmakers instead of Johnson, preventing him from reaching the required 218 votes.

Three lawmakers – Massey, Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Congressman Keith Self of Texas – floated other options to serve as the next speaker.

This led Johnson to flee the House and members lobbied to support him. After about 45 minutes he returned to the House chamber.

Both Norman and Self changed their votes to support Johnson.

The vote was won and Johnson won re-election.

Norman told reporters after the election that he changed his vote after talking to Johnson in a room outside the House chamber.

He said Johnson told him there would be more conservatives at the table during negotiations, there would be fewer deals between congressional and committee leadership without outside input from other lawmakers and there would be enough time to read the bill text before a vote was scheduled.

Norman said, “When we left that little room, he convinced me and Keith (himself).” “He (Johnson) said I would do it, just give me a chance. He knew as well as I knew that if it went to another vote it would be even more difficult.”

Throughout the tense speaker election, another player has joined in – President-elect Donald Trump.

Norman spoke to Trump twice during the speakership vote.

The first time happened when fellow Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina handed him her phone to talk to the president-elect. The second was during a meeting with Johnson, Self and several others.

“(Trump) is just as enthusiastic,” Norman said of the call with the president-elect. “He said, ‘Norman, we have the most opportunity we’ve ever had — House, Senate, a trifecta, you don’t get that opportunity.’ I said, ‘Mr. President, I agree with you, I’m just hoping that Mike will find the strength to do it.’

Norman said the president-elect also said Johnson was the only person with a chance of winning the election for speaker.

He told reporters after the vote that he spoke to Trump before and after the speaker’s election.

He said he changed his mind after Johnson promised that more members, including the far-right House Freedom Caucus, would be at the negotiating table.

“We put the reconciliation team aside because we knew this would be a huge step forward in getting Trump’s agenda on the path to reconciliation,” he said.

Friday was the first day of the 119th Congress. With majorities in both the House and Senate and Trump returning to the White House at the end of January, Republicans have unified control of Washington.

During his acceptance speech, Johnson said this Congress would support the idea of ​​America First – a slogan promoted by Trump.

After Trump’s re-election, he said that Americans are again demanding to put their interests first.

“And we will,” Johnson said.

Voting for a new Speaker is the first requirement of a new session of Congress, and without the appointment of that leader, the House cannot proceed with any other business.

This has led to chaos in the past – with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy having to go through 15 rounds of voting before being confirmed to the leadership post.

Minutes before the vote on Friday, Johnson posted on Twitter several of his plans if elected.

He promised to create “a working group consisting of independent experts” to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump nominated Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to lead.

That working group, he said, will review existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress and issue a report.

Johnson wrote, “If we want to restore fiscal responsibility, we must start by being transparent about the dollars spent, addressing the problems we find, and then holding accountable those who committed missteps.” Have spent money from.”