UPDATE:
It appears House Speaker Mike Johnson now has enough votes to retain his position. Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Keith Self (R-TX) had initially voted for other lawmakers.
Johnson had a conversation with Norman and Self off to the side before the first round was concluded. The topic of the discussion is unknown but the Speaker appears to have persuaded the lawmakers to back him.
Original Post: The House has voted and Speaker Mike Johnson did not win enough votes to retain his position after several Republican lawmakers either voted for other candidates or chose not to vote in the first round.
The vote went as follows:
Mike Johnson: 216 votes.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): 215 votes.
Others: 3 votes.
Reps. Keith Self (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Thomas Massie (R-KY) refused to back Johnson and voted for other members of Congress instead.
Republican support for Johnson began to wane early in December when he introduced a sweeping 1,574-page spending bill to stave off a government shutdown. The proposed measure included provisions such as a pay increase for members of Congress and the reauthorization of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.
The measure was packed with pork barrel spending that several lawmakers sought to sneak into the measure, knowing that lawmakers and others would not have enough time to read it before it was passed.
The initial bill faced a fierce backlash from Republican lawmakers, media figures, and President-elect Donald Trump. X owner Elon Musk was also instrumental in leading the opposition to the measure.
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After it became apparent that the pork-filled bill would not pass, Johnson went back to the drawing board, reducing its length to 118 pages and removing many of the problematic provisions. However, the streamlined bill still included $100 billion for disaster relief and $10 billion for farmers. Conservative Congress members still criticized the measure, but it eventually passed with an 85-11 vote hours before the government was set to shut down.
However, the dust from the spending battle has still not settled, and speculation about Johnson potentially losing his position as speaker dominated the airwaves and interwebs. Several Republican lawmakers would not indicate whether they intended to support the speaker or push for someone else.
However, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) stated earlier in the month that he would not vote for Johnson because of the spending debacle and other issues. In a post on X, he accused Johnson of being “the next Paul Ryan.”
I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan. We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget. pic.twitter.com/6Y7GAkcBzJ
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 30, 2024
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) indicated that several other lawmakers would love to take Johnson’s job and said she would not commit to supporting him. Yet, in the end, she voted for Johnson.
Rep. SPARTZ tells @willcain she thinks "a lot of other people are interested" in being Speaker.
— Ryan Schmelz (@RyanSchmelzFOX) December 30, 2024
Spartz is not committed to supporting Speaker Johnson and alleges he's "not willing to have the deliberation" with members who have issues.
Johnson can only afford to lose one more… pic.twitter.com/mnXf9RTMf4
Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) said that Republicans have a “weakness” in leadership after the spending bill passed.
BREAKING: Republican Rep. Cory Mills says that we have a “weakness” in leadership after the passing of the Continuing Resolution, hinting that he may vote against Mike Johnson to remain as Speaker in the next Congress.
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) December 22, 2024
👀 pic.twitter.com/tdeb3tkdVw
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), one of the loudest voices against the spending bill and the elimination of the debt ceiling said he did not believe Johnson had enough votes to retain the gavel. He noted that Congress “violated the 72-hour rule twice…It still spent $110 billion unpaid for.”
When called upon, Roy remained silent and refused to cast a vote. When called upon after the first count, he voted for Johnson.
Johnson was not without his defenders, however. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich supported Johnson, telling an interviewer, “I could never do his job.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) also spoke in Johnson’s favor, recalling the fight to remove former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), which he said would “go down as the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics.” He said removing Johnson “would equally be as stupid.”
The fact is that these folks are playing with fire, and if they think they're somehow going to get a more conservative speaker, they're kidding themselves. Mike Johnson is arguably the most conservative speaker that's ever been elected to the office.
Rep. Mike Lawler argues that House Speaker Mike Johnson should be reelected despite Republican infighting on whether he should keep the position after how he handled a spending bill that prevented a government shutdown last week.
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 29, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/BKV1JYfNQA
Most importantly, President-elect Donald Trump is still in Johnson’s corner. In a post on Truth Social, he reaffirmed his endorsement of the speaker.
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