Mike Johnson Wins Re-Election as US House Speaker

Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, served as the speaker of the US House of Representatives for most of the 118th Congress. On Friday, January 3, 2025, he was re-elected to lead the 119th Congress as well – but the vote wasn’t without its share of drama and suspense.

Drama in the Speaker Vote

The House convened just after noon to hold a vote to elect the speaker for the new Congress. Most Republicans voted for Mike Johnson, while all the Democrats voted for their own party leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Three Republicans – Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Keith Self of Texas, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina – voted for other Republican members of Congress instead.

The speaker of the House presides over votes and, if necessary, breaks ties. He or she is also next in line to become president after the vice president if, for some reason, the president and vice president both are unable to perform.

Electing a speaker requires a simple majority (50% plus one vote) of the voting members. In this case, that required number of votes was 218. With a slim Republican majority of just 219 to 215, Johnson could only afford to lose one vote. Thanks to the three holdouts, the first vote stalled out at 216 for Johnson and 215 for Jeffries.

It seemed for a while the first vote would fail. Back in 2023, when the 118th Congress first got started, it took 15 roll call votes over four days to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, as speaker of the House. He only held the job for about nine months when Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, called for a vote to remove him. The vote succeeded, and it then took 22 days for Mike Johnson to be elected. With Friday’s vote stalled for more than an hour, it seemed yet another dramatic and long, drawn out process was to follow.

After talking to the holdouts, however, Johnson was able to convince Mr. Self and Mr. Norman to change their votes, giving him the 218 required to win re-election. The votes were updated, the gavel was banged, and the vote was called. Mike Johnson became the speaker of the House for the 119th Congress after just a single roll call vote on the first day of the legislative year.

Takeaways:

1. Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, was re-elected as the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
2. The speaker of the House is the House leader. He or she presides over the votes and, if necessary, votes to break a tie.
3. The last couple of speaker votes have been very dramatic. It took 15 votes over four days to elect Kevin McCarthy of California, and then after he was removed nine months later, it took 22 days to elect Mike Johnson.