Trump urged by GOP ally to clear path for House Speaker vote

María Paula Mijares Torres, Bloomberg News on Dec 29, 2024

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A senior Republican lawmaker urged President-elect Donald Trump’s intervention to avoid a House leadership battle, saying he should reach out to GOP members who haven’t committed to reelecting Mike Johnson as speaker.

With the speakership vote scheduled for Jan. 3 and Trump about to take office, the tiny Republican majority in the House is raising the specter of a factional fight among Republicans like the one that led to Kevin McCarthy’s removal as speaker last year.

“We have five Republicans that won’t commit to voting for Mike Johnson — and he can only lose one or two votes,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said on Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures." “It’s a terrible challenge.”

Johnson has faced ire from some ultraconservative lawmakers after backing a temporary spending deal that didn’t include Trump’s initial demand for lifting the U.S. debt ceiling. While Trump hasn’t taken a public stand on the speaker’s future, no declared challenger to Johnson has emerged.

“I strongly encourage Donald Trump to get on the phone with those five or six members who won’t commit to voting for Mike Johnson, because all this is going to do is delay us,” including on the certification of Trump’s election victory and his early agenda as president, Comer said.

New York Representative Mike Lawler warned ultraconservative Republicans against moving to topple Johnson.

“The fact is that these folks are playing with fire,” Lawler said on ABC’s "This Week." “And if they think they’re somehow going to get a more conservative speaker, they’re kidding themselves.”

Republicans can count on 219 House seats, Lawler said, and need 218 votes to elect a speaker without Democratic support. GOP congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky has said he won’t support Johnson.

Lawler called the infighting that led to the October 2023 House vote to oust McCarthy as speaker “the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics.”

“With that said, removing Mike Johnson would equally be as stupid,” he said.

Trump’s decisive election victory in November and his sway over House Republicans means he could wield his power to try to install someone else as speaker, though he hasn’t taken a public stand on Johnson’s future.

“We can’t get anything done unless we have a speaker, including certifying President Trump’s election on Jan. 6,” Lawler said. “So to waste time over a nonsensical intramural food fight is a joke.”

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