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Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana was re-elected speaker of the House of Representatives Friday on the first vote after two of his three fellow Republicans who initially voted for other caucus members switched their votes to him.
Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas flipped their votes in Johnson’s favor after huddling with him near the House floor as the House clerk held the ballot open for more than an hour.
Only one Republican, Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky, voted for someone else, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, in the final count, giving Johnson the minimum 218 votes he needed to win.
Neither Emmer nor the other Republicans for whom Norman and Self voted first (Jim Jordan of Ohio and Byron Donalds of Florida) had been nominated or were seeking the speaker’s gavel.
Johnson defeated Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, nominated by his fellow Democrats. Jeffries received all 215 caucus votes.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, bangs gavels at the first session of the 119th Congress, in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 3, 2025 .
Mandel and | AFP | fake images
President-elect Donald Trump, who had endorsed Johnson’s candidacy, congratulated him in a social media post for “receiving an unprecedented vote of confidence in Congress.”
“Mike will be a great speaker and our country will be the beneficiary,” Trump wrote. “The American people have waited four years for common sense, strength and leadership. They will get it now and America will be greater than ever!”
Johnson took his place at the front of the House after the vote and called for a moment of silence for the victims of the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans.
Johnson was first elected president on October 25, 2023, three weeks after then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from that seat when a handful of Republican members joined all Democrats in voting to impeach him.
Johnson was the fourth candidate considered to replace McCarthy.
McCarthy had only been president for nine months when he was removed; He was first elected president in January 2023, after four days of voting and 15 ballots.
