WASHINGTON – House Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to avoid the same fate his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, experienced two years ago: an embarrassing, protracted fight over the speaker’s gavel.
A small group of right-wing agitators threaten to derail Johnson’s bid to retain the job of president on Friday. Usually, it would be a difficult task to hire a keynote speaker. But Republicans have such a slim majority in the new 119th Congress that only two Republican defectors could prevent Johnson, R-Louisiana, from winning the top office for another two years.
Three days ago, Johnson received a major boost when President-elect Donald Trump publicly gave the Louisiana Republican his “complete and total endorsement,” arguing that Johnson’s election would help the GOP-controlled Congress execute his 2025 agenda. The speaker said he spent New Year’s Day with Trump at his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, shortly after a Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
But Johnson already lost one Republican vote; Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has gone to X to rally his colleagues against Johnson, whom he blames for striking deals on government spending, aid to Ukraine and renewal of a powerful surveillance program known as Section 702 of FISA.
Lawmakers said unpredictable Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., is also someone to watch; has not committed to supporting the speaker and is seeking some guarantees.
“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson will work just as well as his endorsement of President Paul Ryan,” Massie wrote on X ahead of the new year. “We’ve seen Johnson team up with Democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow up the budget.”
For his part, Johnson expresses confidence that he will hold the gavel in the public vote scheduled for noon Friday, the first vote of the new Congress when each House member present must verbally cast his vote to elect president.
Democrats are expected to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. And nearly all Republicans are expected to vote for Johnson, who won his party’s nomination for president shortly after the Nov. 5 election.
During an appearance on Fox News on Thursday, Johnson touted Trump’s endorsement and warned that any political games with the presidency could delay Congress’ certification of Trump’s Jan. 6 election victory. The Louisianan also suggested the House could not afford to delay its organization in the new Congress because of national security threats like the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans.
The first House vote of the new Congress is the vote to elect the president, and no other business can be taken up until the lower house elects its leader. That means House committees cannot be organized, bills cannot be introduced and no other votes can be taken.
“We will do it. Look, the things we’re talking about this morning are an illustration that we live in very serious times. We can’t afford any palace drama here. We have to start Congress, which starts tomorrow, and we have to get to work right away,” Johnson said on Fox News.
“We must certify the election of President Donald J. Trump on Monday, January 6. And we have a lot of important things pressing on us right now, so there’s no time to waste. “We have to stay united.”
Johnson faces a mathematical problem similar to the one McCarthy faced just two years ago, when a small bloc of conservative rebels, led by then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida. – teamed up with Democrats to prevent McCarthy from winning the gavel. It took 15 rounds of voting over several days and personal phone calls from Trump to convince the Gaetz group to resign.
Due to his small majority, McCarthy would narrowly win the presidency. But just 269 days later, Gaetz again worked with Democrats to unseat McCarthy, setting off an all-out battle to succeed him that paralyzed all House business for three weeks.
In the end, Johnson, then the GOP’s likable No. 7 leader in the House and with no known enemies, was unanimously elected president after more senior leaders tried and failed.
On Fox, Johnson acknowledged that he is dealing with a challenging “numbers game.” Republicans won a 220-215 majority in November. But Gaetz resigned from his position after the election and said he would not be sworn in to the new 119th Congress on Friday, narrowing the GOP lead to 219-215.
Johnson would need at least 218 votes – a simple majority – to win the gavel if all members of the House are present on Friday.
He said he spent the holidays reaching out to “every single one” of his Republican critics. And, he told Fox, he is arguing that he is the best person for the job and that Republicans (who, starting later this month, will control all levels of power in Washington) cannot afford to delay enactment of the bill. Trump’s legislative agenda, which includes tax renewal. cuts and border security.
He recently told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he had a 45-minute phone call with one of his harshest critics, Spartz.
“We have a unified government that starts tomorrow. We have the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, a totally different situation than what we have faced for the last 14 months since I have been president,” Johnson said on Fox. “That’s why we are excited to deliver on America’s agenda first”.
