The new Congress convenes today with one major task happening.
The election of the House speaker.
Current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is still working to win over a handful of Republican lawmakers who are skeptical of his leadership, raising the prospect of a close and contentious vote today that could oust Johnson from his seat.
According to reports from Capitol Hill, Johnson has spent the week working the phones and met with lawmakers in the Capitol through last night to try to better understand the concerns of roughly half a dozen hard-liners whose support he needs in the speakership election, which begins today at noon.
According to the Washington Post, many of Johnson’s skeptics come from the House Freedom Caucus, which has spent the last year pushing their leaders to curtail government spending, or else.
To retain his seat as House Speaker, Johnson needs 218 votes if all House lawmakers are present and voting for a speaker candidate by name.
However, because of the resignation of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) last month, House Republicans will start the year with just 219 seats, meaning Johnson can afford to lose just one GOP vote.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) has said he’ll definitely vote against Johnson, so Johnson would need every other Republican vote.
Should Johnson not get the necessary votes, the House keeps voting until a speaker is elected because, without one, lawmakers cannot be sworn in to begin voting.
Johnson told Fox News yesterday that conversations have focused on “process reforms in the House.”
Two people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the speaker was referencing efforts to ensure House Republicans can quickly pass conservative legislation while also cutting spending.
After meeting with holdouts Thursday afternoon, Johnson told Fox that he predicted he would receive “maybe one ‘no’ vote” and remained “hopeful” that he can win back the gavel on the first round of voting.
One thing Johnson has in his corner is the endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump, who this week threw his support behind Johnson, telling the media he is best equipped to implement conservative reforms.
Ahead of his New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago Club, Trump told reporters he believes the holdouts will ultimately support Johnson because he is the only House Republican who can clinch enough votes to win the gavel.
“He’s the one who can win right now. People like him. Almost everybody likes him,” Trump said. Though there are others who would be “very good,” he added, “they have 30 or 40 people that don’t like them, so that’s pretty tough,” he said, without naming names.
Asked if he was calling to pressure the holdouts, Trump said he would, if necessary, but that he believes Johnson has the votes.
“Really we’re going to have a great time and get a successful vote. [Johnson’s] a good man, he’s a very wonderful person and that’s what you need,” said Trump.
Trump’s endorsement has swayed some Republican holdouts already.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Oklahoma), who voted against Johnson’s stopgap funding bill last month, posted after Trump’s endorsement that he believes Johnson and Trump “are the winning combination to deliver results within our window of opportunity.”
But other members of the House Freedom Caucus remain undecided about whether to support Johnson. They want to know how Johnson will cut spending while also pushing forward Trump’s agenda.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a key holdout who has been in conversations for several weeks about possibly replacing Johnson, said Wednesday that Johnson’s mishandling of the latest government funding bill cannot happen again.
“The reason I am still undecided on the Speaker vote (as opposed to hard no) is it’s not ALL the fault of @SpeakerJohnson & my desire is to give him grace & @realDonaldTrump room to deliver on a strong agenda for which we were elected. But something MUST change,” he wrote.
Voting on Johnson’s seat will happen today. This is an on-going story. Check back for more updates.