WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has only one goal on the first day of the new Congress: keeping his job and tamping down a potential Republican mutiny.
Today at 12:00 p.m. (ET), the 119th Congress will have its first sitting. Its first order of business is to choose a speaker: No other official business, including the Jan. 6 certification of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory, can take place prior to the election of a speaker.
In order to keep the gavel, Johnson will need to win a majority of votes in the full House, though the threshold varies based on how many seats are vacant and how many lawmakers actually take part in the vote.
If the full House votes, as is likely, Johnson will need 218 Republicans to vote for him—a tall order, given that Republicans enter with 219 seats, and at least one Republican outright opposes him. One seat, that of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), is currently vacant, bringing the total of the full House to 434 members.
Johnson is favored to keep his position—but that could be easier said than done as, even with President-elect Donald Trump’s backing, several House Republicans have said publicly that they’re undecided or outright opposed to giving Johnson another turn with the gavel.
The situation is reminiscent of the start of the previous 118th Congress, in which it took five days and 15 ballots to name Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker. Like Johnson, McCarthy faced questions about his conservative credentials and establishment ties.
Johnson enters the day in a stronger position—but far from a certain one.
And Democrats have made clear that, in spite of their May vote to save Johnson from a motion to vacate brought by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), they won’t be bailing the speaker out this time.
“There will be no Democrats available to save him,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC.
Still, Johnson has said he’s optimistic about his chances.
“We’re going to get this done,“ Johnson said. ”We cannot afford any palace drama here. We have got to get the Congress started, which begins tomorrow, and we have to get immediately to work. …We have to stay unified. The American people gave us a mandate.”
Normally, a handful of GOP dissenters wouldn’t be much of a problem for a would-be speaker: few Republican speakers ever achieve unanimous support from their ideologically diverse conference.
But Republicans’ narrow majority in the incoming Congress means that every defection is potentially crippling to Johnson, who can spare no more than one GOP opponent.
So far, one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), has expressed hardline opposition to Johnson’s bid, saying in a post on X, “On January 3rd, 2025, I won’t be voting for Mike Johnson.
“I hope my colleagues will join me because history will not give America another ‘do-over,’” Massie added, comparing Johnson to former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who clashed openly with the president-elect during his first term.
With such a slim majority, Johnson can’t afford to lose anyone else. But many other Republicans have expressed reservations; many of these Republicans feel that Johnson failed to gain enough wins during his first term, and have condemned his decisions on government funding and other legislation.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was the second Republican to indicate concerns about Johnson.
“I remain undecided, as do a number of my colleagues, because we saw so many of the failures last year that we are concerned about that might limit or inhibit our ability to advance the president’s agenda,” Roy told Fox Business on Dec. 31.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus could be a particular problem for Johnson. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the influential caucus, told The Epoch Times that they had a meeting about the vote on Jan. 2, but no details of the meeting were disclosed.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the House Freedom Caucus’s chairman, is undecided, his spokesperson, Anna Adamian, told The Epoch Times on Dec. 31.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) indicated he’s in the same boat.
“I haven’t publicly or privately committed yet,” Biggs told Fox News on Dec. 30. “I do want to speak with the speaker just to see what his plans are, because there are some issues that I think need to be worked out, specifically dealing with the budget issues.”
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) also hasn’t made a decision about her vote yet, she told reporters in the Capitol on Jan. 2.
In an interview on “Fox and Friends” earlier the same week, Spartz hinted at the reasons for her reservations, suggesting that she was unimpressed by Johnson’s record in his first term.
“Unfortunately we will not be able to deliver on President Trump’s agenda … if we don’t have a Speaker with courage, vision and a plan,” Spartz said.
BOOKMARKS
The 118th session of Congress has ended, and the new session begins today with the GOP holding—narrowly—control of both chambers. Last year’s major events include the replacement of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, followed by a narrowly avoided overthrow of his successor, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Elon Musk ignited a debate on X this past weekend by advocating for increased issuance of H-1B work visas. The coveted visas, awarded by lottery, bring tens of thousands of foreign workers to the United States each year, especially in the tech industry.
A U.S. appeals court on Jan. 2 struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s “net neutrality” rule, saying the agency had overstepped its authority. The rule, intended to stop internet providers from hindering service for certain users or websites, has been enforced, repealed, and then reinstated over the past three presidential administrations.
The RAND National Security and Research Division has issued a report saying the United States is underprepared for a major war. The study highlights the possibility of an alliance between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, calling it the “most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945.”
Elon Musk is facing an outcry by prominent users on X who say he demonetized their accounts after they hotly disagreed with him on U.S. immigration policy. Musk doubled down on the demonetizations, saying “The first amendment is protection for ‘free speech,’ not ‘paid speech.’”
—Stacy Robinson
