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Mike Johnson wins gavel after flipping first-ballot holdouts

Jim Saksa, CQ-Roll Call on

Published in News & Features

WASHINGTON — The new Congress got off to a stumbling start Friday, as Mike Johnson initially appeared to fall short of winning the speakership on the first ballot, before some last-minute arm-bending convinced two Republican holdouts to switch their votes. Johnson was elected speaker with 218 votes, the bare minimum.

Starting the year off this way highlights the difficulties Republicans can expect in mustering majorities to pass legislation in the 119th Congress. Not even President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement of Johnson earlier this week, which he reiterated in a social media post Friday morning, managed to secure an easy path.

Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, who had already vowed to vote against Johnson heading into Friday, cast a ballot for the No. 3 House Republican Tom Emmer. The floor broke out in murmurs as he was joined by Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas, who voted for Ohio’s Jim Jordan and Florida’s Byron Donalds, respectively. Johnson then appeared likely to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, and need multiple ballots to win the gavel.

But Republicans held the vote open while GOP leaders huddled with Norman and Self. A half-hour later, the pair returned to the chamber and changed their votes to applause from their colleagues. It was not immediately clear what convinced the pair to relent, but as he left the chamber afterward, Johnson told reporters he had promised them “nothing.”

Shortly before the initial vote, a handful of Republican holdouts announced their support for Johnson, including Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Eli Crane of Arizona and Greg Steube of Florida. Another potential no-vote, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, warned on X that the election would “go to multiple rounds” but then voted for Johnson.

With Republicans holding just 219 seats to Democrats’ 215, they enjoy the smallest majority in nearly a century.

Allies of Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy, who’d been seen as a potential holdout prior to the vote, had said earlier in the week they could be swayed if Johnson appointed the Texas Republican chairman of the Rules Committee. After Friday’s vote, Lauren Boebert of Colorado reiterated that point to reporters, saying it would push Johnson over the line.

Roy drew surprised gasps from the chamber when he ultimately voted for Johnson after initially declining to vote when his name was called. A handful of other Republicans likewise chose not to vote when the clerk first called their names, but then voted for Johnson at the end.

Johnson told reporters ahead of the vote that while he was open to tweaking House rules, he had no intention of buying votes. “I don’t make deals with anyone. There’s no quid pro quo here,” he said. “I don’t do anything in exchange for a vote, other than commit that this institution work as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

Ahead of the vote Friday, Johnson was formally nominated by GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, who projected confidence.

“As chairman of the unified Republican conference, I can say proudly that we are ready to govern,” the Michigan congresswoman said, betraying no hints of the behind-the-scenes discord. Throughout her remarks, most Republicans stood to applaud repeatedly, while Roy sat stone-faced.

In his remarks nominating Jeffries, Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar needled the GOP’s inability to unify. “There’s only one leader who knows how to negotiate a bipartisan deal and then stick to that deal,” the California Democrat said.

 

McCarthy’s speakership lasted less than a year after he struck a spending deal with Democrats, which led Gaetz to force a no-confidence vote. It took Republicans weeks to eventually land on Johnson as a new speaker, and the 118th Congress ultimately was one of the least productive in living memory. The proposed House rules for the incoming Congress would raise the threshold to file a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair from one member to nine majority-party members, but the rules package won’t be voted on until after a speaker is elected.

Trump’s popularity with the GOP base and his willingness to endorse primary challengers to Republicans who defy him means that most in the caucus have not opposed him when the spotlight is on. But despite Trump’s public pressure to eliminate the debt ceiling amid last month’s budget showdown, Roy and 37 other Republicans voted against the proposal, saying the now-frequent flirtation with national default provided them leverage to reduce federal spending. The debt ceiling will need to be raised again some time in the coming few months.

Johnson’s detractors – including several who voted for him Friday – have said he’s done too little to restrain spending, decrying deals struck with Democrats to fund the government and provide more military aid to Ukraine. But Johnson was forced to negotiate with Democrats, who controlled the Senate, and the Biden White House. Going forward, Republicans will enjoy a governing trifecta for the first time since the start of Trump’s first term.

With that control of the political branches, Republicans are expected to work on cutting the federal budget while extending expiring provisions of their 2017 tax cut package and reversing legislation passed during Joe Biden’s presidency.

Congressional Republicans have turned on their leaders repeatedly in recent years. Before McCarthy, Speaker John Boehner faced a revolt from right-wing members that ultimately contributed to his decision to step down in 2015.

Even as the 119th Congress kicked off with uncertainty over the speakership, the mood inside and outside the chamber was festive and light. Members hobnobbed and waved at their guests watching from the galleries above, while their children — allowed to join them on the floor — squirmed with varying levels of boredom.

But while Democrats were invariably snapping selfies and introducing themselves to one another before the vote, things on the other side of the aisle were decidedly more solemn. Facing another indeterminate round of apparent infighting before the C-SPAN cameras, much of the Republican rank-and-file sat grimly awaiting the vote, while some emissaries from the party’s more moderate factions tried to win over potential Johnson holdouts at the last moment.

Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson missed the quorum vote, arriving on the floor shortly after acting House Clerk Kevin McCumber announced 433 members as present. When McCumber officially announced Gaetz’s resignation, wry cheers broke out on the chamber floor.

During the lengthy roll call vote, most members whispered to one another or sat staring silently at their phones. For a while, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, once the youngest member in the House, appeared to be knitting with yarn.

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(David Lerman, Nina Heller, Justin Papp, John T. Bennett, Mark Schoeff Jr., Daniel Hillburn, Olivia Bridges and Aidan Quigley contributed to this report.)


©2025 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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