In a stunning transfer, Mike Johnson managed to tamp down a conservative rise up and secured the help to stay speaker on the primary poll Friday, after two Republicans who initially opposed him flipped their votes.
After a protracted break, Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Keith Self (R-Texas) switched their votes to Johnson after initially backing others for the highest Home job.
It’s a significant boon for Republican vows to swiftly implement President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda. Trump weighed in repeatedly in Johnson’s favor as the competition performed out.
In the end, just one GOP lawmaker opposed Johnson’s bid, regardless of a couple of dozen different conservatives publicly refusing to again him forward of the vote. The speaker had labored behind the scenes for weeks to safe their backing, after a spending fiasco in December infuriated a lot of them.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) held to his opposition in opposition to Johnson whereas different conservatives opted to again him. Along with the 2 lawmakers who flipped their votes, almost a dozen different holdouts opted to help him. Democrats, in the meantime, hung collectively to again Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries.
In an deal with after his reelection as speaker, Johnson outlined his social gathering’s priorities within the chamber. “We are going to begin rapidly and we’ll begin by defending our nation’s borders,” he mentioned.
Johnson was endorsed in opposition to making any aspect offers to placate conservatives — with moderates cautious of comparable agreements made by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy that considerably weakened management and ultimately led to his ouster. After the vote, Johnson instructed reporters that he had modified “nothing” to get Norman and Self to flip their votes.
However quite a few Home Republicans who reluctantly voted for Johnson to proceed on in his position made clear within the quick aftermath they preserve deep reservations about his management.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), former head of the Home Freedom Caucus, mentioned in a post on X that he wants Johnson to take steps like securing the southern border, clamp down on federal rules and implement a congressional inventory buying and selling ban, amongst different priorities, within the early months of his speakership.
“We are going to maintain Speaker Johnson accountable to perform the Republican Agenda,” Perry wrote. And he wasn’t alone in expressing continued reservations.
“Every part we do must set the Congress up for fulfillment and to ship the Trump agenda for the American individuals,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). “Speaker Johnson has not made that clear but, so there are numerous members past the three who voted for another person who’ve reservations.”
Eleven members of the Home Freedom Caucus despatched a letter to their colleagues — a duplicate of which was obtained by POLITICO — outlining what they imagine Johnson ought to have dedicated to and what they wish to see subsequent. It’s a reminder that whereas Johnson gained the gavel, his complications are removed from over.
“Speaker Johnson should show he is not going to fail to enact President Trump’s daring agenda,” they wrote.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
