U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson was reelected speaker of the House in the first ballot Friday afternoon in a surprisingly quick process that last Congress dragged on for days.
The vote was 218 to 215.
Johnson needed 218 votes to retain the post he has held since October 2023. All 215 Democrats backed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York.
Initially, Johnson came up two votes shy of the majority. But nearly an hour passed before the ballot was officially announced.
In the meantime, Johnson huddled with two of the three holdout Republicans — Rep. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, and Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas — who had cast votes for other GOP representatives. The third, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, had said for weeks he was a solid "no."
After the quick meeting, Johnson returned to the floor smiling, stopping by to chat with Jeffries, who patted him on the back.
Then Norman and Self went to the clerk and changed their votes to Johnson, giving him the majority. The gavel quickly came down to announce Johnson had won on the first ballot.
Louisiana will continue to hold the top two leadership spots in the lower chamber.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the Jefferson Republican who serves in the second-ranking leadership post, was elected by Republicans members of the House in November.
He sat next to Johnson during the balloting and kept a tally of every vote. Louisiana Republicans Julia Letlow of Start and Clay Higgins of Lafayette joined Scalise in voting for Johnson.
Rep. Cleo Fields, a Baton Rouge Democrat, cast his first vote as a new congressman for Jeffries as speaker. He sat next to Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, who also backed Jeffries.
Though President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly endorsed Johnson – as he did again Friday morning – the Benton Republican was repeatedly criticized by far-right Republicans for compromising with Democratic members to get must-pass legislation approved last year.
Johnson could afford to lose only one Republican vote Friday, and his reelection was expected to last several ballots. Johnson had been on the phone and meeting behind closed doors over the holidays talking with the dozen or so members who had reservations about him.
Publicly, Johnson and his supporters said his election needed to be quick in order to get started immediately on Trump’s legislative agenda. Republicans want to approve bills that provide strict border security, expand energy exploration and production, and continue tax cuts approved during Trump’s first administration.
Johnson was nominated by Lisa McClain, R-Michigan, chair of the Republican Conference, which includes all members of the GOP in the House.
“Over 14 months ago Mike Johnson took on a daunting task. No speaker is perfect and no one will ever be. However, achieving perfection requires incremental gains and hard decisions along the way,” McClain said.
Jeffries was nominated by the head of the Democratic members caucus, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California.
“In the face of chaos and dysfunction over the past two years our caucus has kept the government funded, kept our allies protected and our economy secured,” Aguilar said.
Two years ago in January 2023, House Republicans took 15 ballots to elect Kevin McCarthy, R-California, as speaker. His nine-month reign was tumultuous. McCarthy was ousted the following October in a coup orchestrated by a small group of conservatives angered that he had negotiated with Democrats on a spending bill.
It took three weeks and the failure of three GOP candidates before Johnson emerged as speaker.