President-elect Donald Trump has given a full endorsement to embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), potentially hedging off a divisive fight later this week.
“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard-working, religious man,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Dec. 30. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”
The endorsement gives a major lift to the speaker, who will face a vote in the lower chamber on Jan. 3, 2025.
Though there’s still some uncertainty about the outcome, Trump’s support offers Johnson significant protection from potential GOP challenges to his speakership.
Following the collapse of a government funding package that Johnson negotiated behind the scenes and which left many Republicans, including Trump, unhappy, there were open discussions about Johnson’s fate.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has already said he won’t vote for Johnson, , citing concerns about Johnson’s handling of economics and government finance. Republicans will have around 219 votes on the first day of the new Congress, just one more than the 218-vote majority threshold in a full House.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has openly clashed with Johnson, while lawmakers in the conservative House Freedom Caucus such as Reps. Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) have suggested some reservations.
Other Republicans are more open in their support for Johnson.
During a Dec. 29 appearance on “This Week,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said that any effort to unseat Johnson would be “stupid.”
“Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gaetz and several of my colleagues teamed up with 208 Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down as the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics,” Lawler said, referencing the October 2023 vote that removed then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the speakership.
“Removing Mike Johnson would equally be as stupid.”
Assuming former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) doesn’t briefly return for the start of the 119th Congress—which he’s indicated isn’t totally off the table—Johnson will be able to spare only a single defection. That means he can absorb Massie’s protest vote, but no others.
Democrats have already made clear they wouldn’t bail Johnson out, as they intend to support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (D-N.Y.) bid for the speakership.
Trump’s silence had added to speculation that Johnson may have been on his way out.
Now, however, Trump has indicated that he wants to avoid a protracted fight like the one that McCarthy endured at the start of the 118th Congress. It took 15 ballots for him to be narrowly elected speaker.
Trump suggested that avoiding such an opening to the incoming 119th Congress would allow Republicans to begin immediately implementing the sweeping legislative reforms he has championed.
“Let’s not blow this great opportunity which we have been given,” Trump wrote in all caps.
“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration.”
Johnson accepted the boost on X.
“Thank you, President Trump! I’m honored and humbled by your support, as always,” Johnson wrote. “Together, we will quickly deliver on your America First agenda and usher in the new golden age of America.”
If Johnson faces no significant challenge, he’s expected to be reelected speaker during the first sitting of the 119th Congress on Friday.
However, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has indicated he’s still worried about whether Johnson can win the vote and said that Trump should work to bring potential defectors in line.
“I strongly encourage Donald Trump to get on the phone with those five or six members who won’t commit to voting for Mike Johnson because all this is going to do is delay us,” Comer said during a Dec. 29 appearance on Fox Business’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Johnson or someone else will need to be named speaker before Congress can certify Trump’s election on Jan. 6, 2025.
