Mike Johnson Reelected as Speaker on ‘1st’ Ballot That Was Actually Like 3 Ballots

Republicans may be trying to show unity before Trump is sworn in, but today's little stunt shows that the party is actually fragile as hell.

By Susan Rinkunas | January 3, 2025 | 4:20pm

Photo: Getty Images Politics

Mike Johnson Reelected as Speaker on ‘1st’ Ballot That Was Actually Like 3 Ballots

On Friday, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) won re-election as Speaker of the House during the first round of voting with a final tally of 218-215-1. But the so-called first ballot was more like multiple ballots after some Freedom Caucus clownery and a face-saving maneuver from Johnson.

Johnson, you’ll recall, was first elected speaker in October 2023 to replace former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who needed a staggering 15 rounds of voting to win the job earlier that year. Yet members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus have been mad at Johnson for not demanding spending cuts in bipartisan budget bills. (As if President Joe Biden would have signed those into law.) President-elect Donald Trump endorsed Johnson for re-election, but it was not a guarantee because “half a dozen hard-liners” still opposed him as of Thursday evening, per the Washington Post.

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Republicans have the narrowest House majority in nearly 100 years, meaning Johnson could only lose one vote. Before the vote, Johnson released a list of pledges to cut spending and Axios said those promises reportedly changed the minds of some holdouts.

And still, the “first ballot” that he won was more like three ballots. Initially, three people voted against him (Reps. Thomas Massie, Ralph Norman, and Keith Self) and seven didn’t vote at all (Reps. Andy Biggs, Andrew Clyde, Michael Cloud, Paul Gosar, Andy Harris, Chip Roy, and Michael Waltz). The tally was temporarily 209-215-3. After the clerk went through all the names once, they asked if anyone who hadn’t cast a ballot wanted to vote now. All seven who skipped the first round voted for Johnson. This is what I’m referring to as the second-ish ballot, where the tally became 216-215-3.

But the clerk never gaveled out and never officially closed the vote so, during the course of about 45 minutes, lawmakers milled about the House floor, some huddling in the back of the room and others taking phone calls. Then Reps. Norman and Self approached the clerk and asked to change their votes to Johnson, which got him to the magic number of 218. In the end, Massie was the only caucus member not to vote for Johnson; he voted for Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

What changed? Apparently, Trump called Norman and Self after they voted against Johnson, but anonymous sources told Politico that the two also “secured general commitments from Johnson and other Republicans about the GOP conference working more collaboratively.”

One Republican told Axios that the waiting game and switched votes was a ploy for attention:

Said one GOP lawmaker shortly before Self and Norman flipped their votes: “They just need five more minutes of fame, it seems like.” “A couple more tweets, a couple more five-dollar donations … and we’ll bring this thing home,” the lawmaker said.

Republicans may be trying to show unity before Trump is sworn in with a governing trifecta, but today’s little stunt shows that the party is actually fragile as hell. (See also: the ongoing fight over immigration, specifically H-1B visas.)

Meanwhile, every single Democrat voted to re-elect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as Minority Leader.