Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has been endorsed by nearly all Republicans in his re-election bid.
But this success was not without some controversy.
To vote on the election of the speaker, it is necessary for the candidate to receive the support of the majority of the House of Representatives – 218 votes. But because of the weak Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Johnson could only face two Republicans.
Johnson has already faced one tough no from Congressman Thomas Massey of Kentucky.
“You can pull out all my nails. You can stick bamboo in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I will not vote for Mike Johnson,” Massey said in a television interview on Thursday.
Several other Republicans listed themselves in the “undecided” column ahead of the vote.
On the first ballot, three of those undecided Republicans voted for other lawmakers instead of Johnson, preventing him from getting the necessary 218 votes.
Three lawmakers — Massey, South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman and Texas Rep. Keith Self — have named other options as the next speaker.
This sent Johnson running from the House floor and lobbying members to support him. About 45 minutes later, he returned to the chamber of the House of Representatives.
Both Norman and Self voted to support Johnson.
The gavel came down and Johnson won re-election.
After the election, Norman told reporters that he changed his vote after speaking with Johnson in a room outside the House chamber.
He said Johnson told him there would be more conservatives at the table during negotiations, less back-and-forth between Congress and committee leadership without outside input from other lawmakers and enough time to read the bill before a scheduled vote.
“When we left that little room, he convinced me and Keith (Self),” Norman said. “He (Johnson) said I’ll do it, just give me a chance. He knew, and I knew, that when it came to the second round of voting, it was going to get harder and harder.”
Another player has waded into the tight speaker election — President-elect Donald Trump.
Norman spoke to Trump twice during the speaker’s vote.
The first time it happened was when fellow Republican Nancy Mays of South Carolina handed him her phone to talk to the president-elect. The second was during a meeting with Johnson, Self and several others.
“(Trump) is just as enthusiastic,” Norman said of speaking with the president-elect. “He said, ‘Norman, we’ve got the biggest opportunity we’ve ever had — the House, the Senate, the trifecta, you don’t get that opportunity.’ I said, “Mr. President, I agree with you, I just hope Mike has the hit to do it.”
Norman said the president-elect also said Johnson was the only one with a chance to win the speakership election.
After the vote, Self told reporters that he had spoken with Trump before and after the speaker’s election.
He said he changed his mind when Johnson promised to bring more members to the negotiating table, including from the far-right House caucus.
“We supported the reconciliation team because we know it’s going to be a difficult task to move Trump’s agenda across the lines of reconciliation,” he said.
The first day of the 119th Congress began on Friday. Republicans have sole control of Washington, with majorities in the House and Senate, and Trump will return to the White House later in January.
During his speech, Johnson said this Congress will stand up for the idea of America First, a slogan promoted by Trump.
After Trump’s re-election, he said Americans are once again demanding that their interests come first.
“And we will,” Johnson said.
Voting for a new speaker is the first requirement of a new session of Congress, and without that leader, the chamber cannot move on to any other function.
This has led to chaos in the past – including when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had to go through 15 rounds of voting before he was confirmed for the leadership post.
Minutes before Friday’s vote, Johnson posted on X several of his plans if elected.
He promised to create a “task force composed of independent experts” to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Trump has appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to lead.
That task force, he said, will review existing audits of federal agencies and organizations created by Congress and issue a report.
“If we want to restore fiscal responsibility, we must start by being transparent about the dollars spent, fix the problems we find, and then hold accountable those who misspent the funds,” Johnson wrote.
