Johnson Wins Speaker for 119th Congress… Barely

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was facing an uphill battle in the House to retain his speakership, having only one vote to spare.

With at least three Republican House members expressing concerns, it got a bit dicey, but when push came to shove, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wound up being the sole holdout, and Johnson was able to retain the gavel.

Holding Out

With Johnson needing 218 votes to get the gavel, this election was far from automatic. The GOP has a four-seat advantage in the House, but not all those seats are filled right now, so Johnson only had one vote to spare.

Reps. Thomas Massie, Chip Roy (R-TX), and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) had all pushed back on Johnson, but Massie and Spartz appeared to be the lone holdouts, with Roy urging unity on the eve of the vote.

Spatz announced that she would not make her decision until it came time to vote, stating, “I will make [the] decision tomorrow."

She later added, “It’s not about me, or anyone else, it’s about the American people. We have to deliver to the American people.”

Concerns

There was significant concern this week expressed by Rep. Roy, who, at the time, said Johnson still did not have the votes to keep the gavel, which would have been a disaster for Trump.

On New Year’s Eve, Roy stated, “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.

“Right now, I don’t believe that he has the votes on Friday, and I think we need to have the conference get together so that we can get united.”

At this point, Massie was still a definitive no, and several other House members in the GOP had stated they were considering backing someone else for Speaker.

Johnson Wins

When it came to voting, Johnson appeared to have failed on the first vote, having three Republicans refusing to back him as Speaker, leading everyone to believe that we could be in for another marathon like the one that took place when McCarthy was running for Speaker.

Massie was holding firm, stating, "You can pull all my fingernails out, you can shove bamboo up in them, you can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow, and you can take that to the bank.”

Trump again applied pressure, posting on Truth Social, "Good luck today for Speaker Mike Johnson, a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support. A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!"

Initially, three votes blocked Johnson, but then two votes aside from Massie flipped their votes to Johnson, giving Johnson exactly what he needed to hold the gavel for another session. Disaster has been averted, and now the election can be certified, and we can start to move forward with the confirmation process for Trump’s cabinet officials.