CV NEWS FEED // On Friday’s first and only round of balloting, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-LA, a conservative Christian, was narrowly reelected to his first full term of presiding over the chamber.
Johnson prevailed by the smallest possible winning margin, winning the votes of 218 of 219 Republican House members.
“It’s an incredible honor to continue serving our great country as Speaker of House,” Johnson wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Friday afternoon. “Now, let’s get to work.”
The vote came just days after President-elect Donald Trump had endorsed Johnson’s reelection bid on Monday.
Trump congratulated Johnson on his successful “Vote of Confidence.”
“Mike will be a Great Speaker, and our Country will be the beneficiary,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The People of America have waited four years for Common Sense, Strength, and Leadership. They’ll get it now, and America will be greater than ever before!”
The speaker’s victory was made possible only after two previously opposed lawmakers, Reps. Ralph Norman, R-SC, and Keith Self, R-TX, changed their votes to support Johnson.
Before deciding to instead back Johnson at the last minute, Norman and Self had cast their speaker votes for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-FL, respectively.
Like Jordan and Donalds, Norman and Self are members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative House members.
Norman told FOX News’ Jacqui Heinrich that advice from Trump himself was instrumental in the consequential decision to switch his vote.
Trump “just said Mike Johnson is the only one that’s got the support among the body to become speaker and I get that,” the congressman said.
Norman added that “there were no concessions, no quid pro quo,” stressing that neither he nor Johnson “operate like that.” He said he had asked Johnson for his word on pursuing a list of conservative policy proposals.
“I said, ‘Okay, we’ll take you at your word,’” Norman said. “That’s why I changed my vote and that’s why he’s speaker of the House.”
Self also confirmed that his move to change his vote for speaker came after a conversation with Trump.
“We had a lively discussion,” Self said, according by The Wall Street Journal:
Self said House Republican leaders agreed to strengthen the negotiating team for the reconciliation package, a budget process Republicans hope to use to bypass Democrats.
>> MONDAY: TRUMP ENDORSES JOHNSON TO REMAIN SPEAKER <<
In the final vote tally, the lone Republican lawmaker to vote against Johnson was Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY, a prominent critic of the speaker.
Massie instead voted for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-MN. Emmer himself, like every other House Republican besides Massie, voted for Johnson.
Meanwhile, all 215 House Democrats cast their speaker votes for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, the leader of the party’s House Caucus.
One House seat – the heavily Republican Florida 1st congressional district – remains vacant. The seat was last occupied by former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, who resigned his seat in November, despite being reelected a week earlier. A special election will be held to fill the seat, in which a Republican is widely expected to win.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Johnson “first ascended to the speakership in October 2023,” replacing “his predecessor Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, who was ousted via an unprecedented mid-term motion to vacate.”
