U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., center, and Rep. Marjorie Tayler Greene, R-Ga., left, talk with fellow representatives as they arrive for the first day of the 119th Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 3, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Friday elected Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson as their speaker for the 119th Congress, following weeks of speculation about whether the GOP would begin another protracted, public dispute over leadership.
The drama-filled vote ensured that Johnson, who was first elected speaker in October 2023, will hold the gavel as Republicans embark on an ambitious legislative agenda that includes overhauling the country’s immigration system and the tax code.
Johnson won the votes of 218 Republicans, while 215 Democrats voted for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman and Texas Rep. Keith Self all originally voted for other members for speaker. But after several conversations, on and off the floor, Norman and Self switched their votes to Johnson.
The November elections handed the GOP unified control of government, which will formally begin on Jan. 20 when President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office.
“This Congress will renounce the status quo and we will listen to the voices of the people. We will act quickly and we will start by defending our nation’s borders — that’s our number one priority,” Johnson said during a floor speech following the vote. “In coordination with President Trump, this Congress will give our border and immigration enforcement agents the resources they need to do their job.”
Unified Republican control of government, he said, would also deport people in the country without legal status and finish building a border wall.
Johnson said during the next two years, the GOP would take up bills to cut taxes, expand energy production and “reduce the size and scope of government.”
Trump support
Trump endorsed Johnson earlier this week and reiterated his support before the vote Friday in a social media post, writing Johnson is “a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support.”
“A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!! – A BIG AFFIRMATION, INDEED. MAGA!”
Self told reporters that he switched his vote after speaking with Trump and Johnson about GOP priorities, such as reconciliation.
“President Trump has the same emphasis that I do,” Self said. “We have got to make sure this Congress is as strong as possible when we go up against the Senate on (a) reconciliation package, because there’s their debate on what the reconciliation package even looks like.”
Norman told reporters that he switched his vote after Johnson “gave us the assurance that he was going to fight for everything as it moves forward.”
Republicans are planning to use the complicated budget reconciliation process to pass several of their policy goals, but that process has strict rules in order to get around the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who took over as the head of that chamber on Friday, pledged to keep that procedural hurdle in place for non-reconciliation bills.
‘Meaningful spending reforms’
Johnson released three commitments just ahead of the speaker vote, writing on social media that “Republicans have a real opportunity in the next two years to make meaningful spending reforms to eliminate trillions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and end the weaponization of government.”
He pledged to establish “a working group comprised of independent experts – not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests – to work with DOGE and our committees on implementing recommended government and spending reforms to protect the American taxpayer.”
Trump has tasked Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with starting an outside group, dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to recommend spending cuts to Congress, though the two could face considerable push back depending on what the recommendations are.
Johnson wrote in his social media post that he would instruct the working group to review “existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress” and release a report on its findings.
Lastly, Johnson wrote he would “request” that “House committees undertake aggressive authorizations and appropriations reviews, including providing additional resources where needed, to expose irresponsible or illegal practices and hold agencies/individuals accountable that have weaponized government against the American people.”
Contrast with McCarthy battle
Johnson’s election on the first ballot marked a somewhat smoother start to this Congress than the last one, in January 2023, when it took the House GOP 15 rounds of voting over several days before members elected then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
Nine months later, McCarthy was stripped of the role and it took Republicans about a month to coalesce around Johnson, following failed bids from Louisiana’s Steve Scalise, Ohio’s Jim Jordan and Minnesota’s Tom Emmer.
Johnson will need to work closely with Thune to keep the two chambers aligned on policy.
The two have a daunting list of legislative goals they’ll need to unify GOP lawmakers around, amid extremely thin majorities.
Voters elected Republicans to 220 House seats and gave Democrats 215 House representatives, one of the closest majorities in the country’s history.
Johnson will have an even narrower margin of victory since former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz didn’t take the oath of office on Friday after choosing to resign from Congress in late December before an Ethics Committee investigation was released.
Two additional House Republicans are expected to depart sometime in the weeks ahead to take up positions in the Trump administration. Special elections to replace those three lawmakers will take months and won’t necessarily guarantee voters will elect Republicans to represent those districts.
In the Senate, Republicans hold 53 seats, giving Thune a bit more room to negotiate on policy, though not much.
The narrow majorities will require both far-right and centrist Republicans to support sweeping bills that are likely to address complicated policy areas, like immigration and taxes — an extremely challenging task.
Republicans were able to pass a broad tax law in 2017 when they last held unified control of government, but they occupied 241 House seats at the time.
While all 51 Senate Republicans voted for the final version of that bill, a dozen House GOP lawmakers voted against the package and three didn’t vote.
Former state legislators in 119th Congress
Nearly half of the 119th Congress — 247 of the 535 members — were former state or territorial legislators, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Twelve states — Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin — have at least six former state legislators serving in the new Congress.
California, Florida, New York and Texas each have at least 11 prior state legislators in the 119th Congress.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said 120 of the 260 Democrats were previous state legislators.