Mike Johnson Elected House Speaker After Republican Holdouts Change Their Votes in the First Round

Mar. 15, 2025

Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson is sworn in as House speaker for the first time on Oct. 25, 2023.Photo:TOM BRENNER/AFP via Getty

TOM BRENNER/AFP via Getty

Louisiana Rep.Mike Johnsonwas narrowly reelected as House speaker on Friday, Jan. 3, after his initial vote tally came up short.

During the first round of voting, House representatives weren’t immediately able to come to a consensus on who to elect as House speaker, which would have put the congressional body at a standstill until a nominee could secure the majority of votes.

If this were a typical year, each House member would vote along party lines — choosing either Johnson or Jeffries based on their affiliation — and the candidate who hails from the majority party would win the speakership with ease.

The act of rebellion appeared to result in a rare deadlocked House speaker election, which would last as long as necessary for a round of voting to prove successful. Then, at the last second, two House Republicans who opposed Johnson’s speakership asked to flip their votes in his favor, delivering him a victory.

House Speaker Mike Johnson.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty

The scramble to compile a new spending bill at the last minute put a spotlight on some of the deals that Johnson had struck with Democrats in order to reach a bipartisan funding agreement, which upset some hardline Republicans.

Given that House Republicans have only a razor-thin majority in the new 119th Congress — there are 219 Republicans, 215 Democrats andone vacancy— the criticism of Johnson sparked doubts about whether he could hold onto the gavel in the upcoming term.

Only two Republicans needed to oppose him on Friday in order to stand in the way of him becoming the House speaker again.

Johnson’s predecessor, former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy,battled similar headwindsin January 2023, when his candidacy causedthe first deadlocked House speaker election in 100 years.

McCarthy refused to withdraw his candidacy for speaker,leading to a contentious 15 rounds of votingthat spanned four days.

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McCarthy’s unprecedented removal as speakereffectively shut down Congress for three weeksas Republicansstruggled to agree on his replacement. Johnson eventually earned the title.

Two months after McCarthy was removed as speaker, heresigned from Congressaltogether.

President-elect Trump tried to help Johnson from meeting the same fate as McCarthy before Friday’s speaker election began, publicly announcing his “complete & total endorsement” on Monday, Dec. 30.

source: people.com