On Friday, Congressional lawmakers convened to elect the next Speaker of the House.
Mike Johnson (R-La.) will serve as Speaker of the House for the 119th Congress.
With the Republican majority at 219-215, Johnson could lose only one Republican vote to remain speaker.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was reelected to the top post in the House in a stunning floor vote on the opening day of Congress on Friday, securing the gavel on the first ballot.
It appeared that he would fail on the first ballot as Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Keith Self (R-Texas) voted for other candidates. However, the chamber held the vote open as Johnson conferred with his opponents and Norman and Self switched their votes to applause in the chamber.
The vote came after President-elect Donald Trump issued his “total” endorsement of Mike Johnson (R-la.) earlier this week.
“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also offered her endorsement of Johnson shortly before Friday’s vote.
Watch:
“Tomorrow we convene at noon in the House of Representatives, and our first order of business will be to vote for Speaker of the House. This is a historic vote, and it is the first order of business that we have to accomplish before we can even swear in as members of Congress,” began Greene. “Now, here’s how I feel about it. You all have seen may disagree with Mike Johnson at times. You’ve seen me fight against him at times. But you want to know something else? Here’s what I recognize: For the past four years, all of you and myself included, have put blood, sweat, and tears into electing President Trump. And when you want to talk about blood, President Trump himself actually was the one that shed blood after an assassin shot him in the face.”
