After nearly two hours, ferocious whipping and a dark-horse defection, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) secured the gavel on the first ballot.
The mood was tense in the House chamber as the vote unfurled; many Freedom Caucus types, who wouldn’t commit to supporting Johnson beforehand, sat in stony silence while their names were called. Three members — the expected Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the somewhat expected Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and the surprise Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) — voted for other candidates, seemingly sinking the vote.
Members spilled out of the chamber, projecting various degrees of doom and optimism.
“They were incompetent in the last session of Congress, and they’re showing their incompetence in this new session,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) told TPM on his way down the steps from the House floor.
“Hey guys, news flash, the sky’s not falling,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) told a gaggle of reporters. “I know it’d be super high drama and exciting if everything fell apart but it’s not going to happen — Mike Johnson is going to be speaker of the House.”
A few minutes later, Van Orden was proven right — “I TOLD YA,” he hollered on his way back into the chamber.
Norman and Massie changed their votes to Johnson after huddling with him, giving him the gavel while the vote was held open.
The speakership fight differed in key ways from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) at the start of the last Congress, though consistent dynamics made the outcome of Friday’s vote far from a sure thing. They both had to contend with an obstinate rightward flank that was eager to resist, but uninterested in detailing an actionable set of demands (see: Massie complaining about aid to Ukraine and government spending). They both benefitted from a lack of viable alternative candidates. They both had thin margins and a lockstep Democratic opposition.
But Johnson had President-Elect Donald Trump’s support, something McCarthy lacked during the vote that ultimately cost him his job. He also had the external pressure of the electoral certification Monday that forced wayward Republicans into line — he reportedly sold the deadline to his members as a delay of the Trump presidency, should they fail to elect a speaker in time.
So, Johnson survived his first test of the 119th Congress, and a new rule change will inoculate him from the same degree of risk that plagued McCarthy: Now nine Republicans have to band together to trigger the motion to vacate, threatening the speaker’s job. For McCarthy, that threshold was one, a rule that ultimately allowed for his ouster.
Still — electing a speaker is supposed to be the easy part.
“The bad news is they’re dysfunctional,” McGovern said. “The good news is they’re dysfunctional, it means they won’t get anything done”
