Mike Johnson wins reelection as House speaker on first ballot with boost from Trump

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jan 3, 2025

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House Speaker Mike Johnson won reelection on the first ballot Friday after the Republican leader wrangled final support from a few reluctant right-wing hardliners.

Johnson, who enjoyed the support of President-elect Donald Trump, won the vote by 218-215, with only one GOP lawmaker, Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky, voting against him.

Two other GOP lawmakers, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Rep. Keith Self of Texas, originally voted against Johnson, leaving his path to victory unclear. But they flipped and supported him after about an hour of backroom horse-trading.

A handful of far right-wing Republicans, including House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., stayed silent as their names were called, suggesting they might not back Johnson, before all of them eventually voted for the GOP leader.

The win amounted to a victory for Trump, who gave Johnson a boost as he faced the tricky vote for reelection in the narrowly divided Congress.

Trump, the undisputed Republican leader, wished Johnson “good luck” ahead of the tight vote in which he needed to win nearly every single GOP lawmaker and overcome lingering opposition from far right-wingers.

“Speaker Mike Johnson (is) a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party.”

The president-elect told CNN that he had called some Republican holdouts and said a win for Johnson would “cement” his presidential victory.

“That would just be a big beautiful exclamation point,” Trump said.

Republicans hold a 219-215 edge over Democrats in the incoming House, meaning Johnson could afford to lose only one GOP vote to keep the majority he needed to win.

Massie, a right-wing hardliner, had already vowed not to back Johnson. Several other ultraconservatives said they were still considering their options.

All Democrats voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn.

Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz had been another wild card because she has said she will no longer caucus with the GOP amid spending disputes. She voted for Johnson.

Republicans were in a tight spot because of their unexpectedly anemic showing in House races during the recent election, when they underperformed Trump’s popular vote and electoral college wins.

They won 220 seats compared with 215 for Democrats, who pulled back three seats in New York that had flipped to the GOP in the previous midterms. But ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned his seat in November in a failed bid to become Trump’s attorney general and did not return for the coming Congress.

That left the speaker needing the votes of the remaining 217 other Republicans, plus Spartz, to win the gavel if Democrats as expected all show up and vote against him.

Right-wing Republicans were angry at Johnson because he regularly cut deals with Democrats to fund the government and avert shutdowns, and also agreed to push forward with defense aid to embattled Ukraine.

But there is no obvious alternative to the affable Louisiana lawmaker, especially since he has Trump in his corner for now.

Trump had wanted the House speaker drama done and dusted by Monday when Congress acts on Jan. 6 to certify his election win, a date that is set by the Constitution.

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