BREAKING: Rep. Mike Johnson has officially secured the Speaker of the House position.

Reps. Keith Self and Ralph Norman switched their votes to Johnson, delivering the 218 votes needed to clinch the role.

Rep. Tim Burchett reflected on the moment, saying this about Johnson:… pic.twitter.com/FkGFJiMkrf

— The Vigilant Fox (@VigilantFox) January 3, 2025

Original Story: Congressman Mike Johnson failed to win the Speaker of the House vote in the first round for the 119th Congress. Hakeem Jeffries ended up with 215 votes while Johnson had 216. Three voted for someone other than the two party leaders.

218 was required for a majority. A second round of voting is expected.

President-Elect Donald Trump weighed in and fully endorsed Johnson even after bashing the Continuing Resolution that Johnson had initially proposed. It was over 1500-pages and loaded with pork. Johnson pulled the CR and came back with a “lite” version, which initially didn’t pass. Democrats voted with most Republicans on the third version, which passed.

After coming under fire from conservatives in the House for siding with Democrats far too often, there were several who simply wouldn’t accept him as Speaker of the House. Thomas Massie has led the charge to stop him and voted for Tom Emmer.

I'm a "Hell No" on re-electing Mike Johnson to serve as Speaker of the House. I joined @FmrRepMattGaetz on @OANN to discuss my opposition.

President Trump's agenda needs to become law. Speaker Johnson has already demonstrated he is not the man who can get that done. pic.twitter.com/JfVoCSNqDy

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 3, 2025

Ralph Norman voted for Jim Jordan while Keith Self voted for Byron Donalds. Some of Johnson’s critics, including Chip Roy, held their vote until the end to see the count.

Every Democrat voted for Hakeem Jeffreys.

We will update this story as more information is known.

On Jan. 3 at 12 p.m. ET, the 119th Congress will have its first sitting. Its first order of business is to choose a speaker: No other official business, including the Jan. 6 certification of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory, can take place prior to the election of a speaker.

In order to keep the gavel, Johnson will need to win a majority of votes in the full House, though the threshold varies based on how many seats are vacant and how many lawmakers actually take part in the vote.

If the full House votes, as is likely, Johnson will need 218 Republicans to vote for him—a tall order, given that Republicans enter with 219 seats, and at least one Republican outright opposes him. One seat, that of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), is currently vacant, bringing the total of the full House to 434 members.

Johnson is favored to keep his position—but that could be easier said than done. Even with President-elect Donald Trump’s backing, several House Republicans have said publicly that they’re undecided or outright opposed to giving Johnson another turn with the gavel.

The situation is reminiscent of the start of the previous 118th Congress, in which it took five days and 15 ballots to name Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker. Like Johnson, McCarthy faced questions about his conservative credentials and establishment ties.

Johnson enters the day in a stronger position—but far from a certain one.

And Democrats have made clear that, in spite of their May vote to save Johnson from a motion to vacate brought by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), they won’t be bailing the speaker out this time.
“There will be no Democrats available to save him,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC.

Still, Johnson has said he’s optimistic about his chances.

“We’re going to get this done,“ Johnson told Fox News. ”We cannot afford any palace drama here. We have got to get the Congress started, which begins tomorrow, and we have to get immediately to work. …We have to stay unified. The American people gave us a mandate.”

Normally, a handful of GOP dissenters wouldn’t be much of a problem for a would-be speaker: Few Republican speakers ever achieve unanimous support from their ideologically diverse conference.

This time, in the incoming Congress, the narrow Republican majority means that every defection is potentially crippling to Johnson, who can spare no more than one GOP opponent.

So far, one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), has expressed hardline opposition to Johnson’s bid, saying in a post on X, “On January 3rd, 2025, I won’t be voting for Mike Johnson.

“I hope my colleagues will join me because history will not give America another ‘do-over,’” Massie said, comparing Johnson to former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who clashed openly with the president-elect during his first term.

Mounting Reservations

Some Republicans have also expressed reservations. They feel that Johnson failed to gain enough wins during his first term and have condemned his decisions on government funding and other legislation.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was the second Republican to indicate concerns about Johnson.

“I remain undecided, as do a number of my colleagues, because we saw so many of the failures last year that we are concerned about that might limit or inhibit our ability to advance the president’s agenda,” Roy told Fox Business on Dec. 31.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus could be a particular problem for Johnson. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the influential caucus, told The Epoch Times that they had a meeting about the vote on Jan. 2, but no details of the meeting were disclosed.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the House Freedom Caucus’s chairman, is undecided, his spokesperson Anna Adamian told The Epoch Times on Dec. 31.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) indicated he’s in the same boat.

“I haven’t publicly or privately committed yet,” Biggs told Fox News on Dec. 30. “I do want to speak with the speaker just to see what his plans are, because there are some issues that I think need to be worked out, specifically dealing with the budget issues.”

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) also hasn’t made a decision about her vote yet, she told reporters in the Capitol on Jan. 2.

In an interview on “Fox and Friends” earlier the same week, Spartz hinted at the reasons for her reservations, suggesting that she was unimpressed by Johnson’s record in his first term.

“Unfortunately we will not be able to deliver on President Trump’s agenda … if we don’t have a Speaker with courage, vision, and a plan,” Spartz said.

Greene could also come out against Johnson, with whom she’s had a handful of high-profile clashes in the past.

In November, Greene told The Epoch Times she wouldn’t mount a challenge to Johnson, citing the lack of declared challengers and the conference’s unanimous decision to nominate him. That position could also change as pressure mounts from other Republicans.

Conservatives had wondered if Trump would oppose Johnson’s bid after the president-elect effectively killed the first massive spending bill to fund the government earlier this month.

“We are the Party of COMMON SENSE, a primary reason that we WON, in a landslide, the magnificent and historic Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump began in a post on Truth Social.

The president-elect celebrated the fact that he won every swing state, 312 Electoral College votes, and more votes than Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

“LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN,” Trump added. “The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” […]

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