Speaker of the House Mike Johnson held onto his job on Friday, securing enough votes from his Republican colleagues to be reelected in one round. It’s an abbreviated journey for Johnson, compared to the fifteen rounds that his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, endured to become speaker.
“What we’re proposing now is just simply, as President Trump likes to say, a ‘return to common sense,’ and he’s exactly right,” Johnson said in his acceptance speech in front of the 119th Congress. In his address, he promised to go after “illegal aliens,” bolster the military, and give more power to parents to define their children’s education, amongst other goals. “I am very thankful, personally, that this body is filled with men and women who are committed to that change, to return to common sense. We can do this together, we should.”
Johnson’s win comes after a coordinated push from President-elect Donald Trump and his allies to secure a vote in the incumbent’s favor. In late December, Trump endorsed Johnson for the role, referring to him as a “good, hard working, religious man” in a Truth Social post that included references to Beyoncé, Reverend Al Sharpton, and unsubstantiated claims of large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 election. Trump celebrated Johnson’s Friday win on Truth Social, too, writing that “Mike will be a Great Speaker, and our Country will be the beneficiary.”
Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican who voted against Johnson in the final tally. Though, initially, nine Republicans abstained or voted against Johnson. One by one, they changed their votes. Along with Massie, two other Republican members still weren’t sure—Representatives Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas.
For almost an hour, as RealClearPolitics reported, “those two Republicans seemed like they were about to hamstring the leader of their own conference. When a second ballot seemed imminent, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace dialed the president-elect on her cellphone.”
According to a source with direct knowledge of the call, Trump told the pair they were being “ridiculous.” “I won all these swing states, but while Democrats are over there sticking together, you two guys are screwing it all up. The American people want relief and the Trump agenda,” the president-elect reportedly told the representatives. “You two are screwing it all up.”
In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Norman explained that he had doubted Johnson because he wasn’t convinced he had “the oomph or the willingness to fight for Trump’s agenda.”
“I said, ‘Mike, are you going to give us specific examples of fighting for the things we mentioned? Will you give us your word?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So I said, ‘OK, we’ll take you at your word.’ That’s why I changed my vote,” Norman said, adding “He’s going to have Trump backing him up, which is all a good thing.”
