Mike Johnson saves his speakership in a nail-biting vote in the US House

After initially facing internal dissent, US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson managed to save his seat in the crucial voting on Friday. The House Speaker could not afford to lose more than one Republican vote to secure his office. However, despite Trump’s endorsement, three Republicans initially voted against Johnson.

Eventually, all but Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, who backed Minnesota’s Tom Emmer, later changed their votes to support Johnson and secure him the 218 votes needed to hold the speakership for his first full term. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party as usual rallied behind House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries during the voting.

South Carolina’s Ralph Norman – who initially voted for a third candidate before flipping to Johnson - has said in the past that he along with several other GOP lawmakers are seeking assurance from Johnson on several issues, particularly budget cuts before they lend their support to him. The House had to choose a speaker before they could be sworn in.

The last-minute pitch that saved Johnson

In the election process, each member of the House was supposed to stand and declare their choice in a roll-call vote. Just before the voting process, Johnson made a last-minute pitch to his colleagues, outlining specific commitments to fiscal reform and promising to create an independent working group to review government spending. He also pledged to investigate what he called “irresponsible or illegal practices” in federal agencies and implement stricter oversight of government expenditures.

“Along with advancing President Trump’s America First agenda,” Johnson wrote on X that he would “lead the House Republicans to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, hold the bureaucracy accountable, and move the United States to a more sustainable fiscal trajectory”. Republicans are holding a slim majority in the House with 219-215.

Assuming all 434 current House members participated (there is one vacancy), Johnson needed 218 votes to win. Johnson’s team worked frantically in conducting last-minute negotiations and heading to Mar-a-Lago to have a sit-down with Trump. However, much of his support was eroded after he helped the Democrats push billions of aid to Ukraine in the spring against Conservative wishes.

Because of those deals, Republican lawmakers including Indiana representative Victoria Spartz, were seeking assurances on cuts to government spending to deliver on Trump’s agenda. “If Speaker Johnson wants to be speaker, then he needs to lay out a plan and commit to that plan, not like what he did last year,” Spartz said on Fox News earlier this week. “I can give him a chance, but I would like to hear from him how he’s going to be delivering this agenda," she added.

The speaker election which took place in 2023 underwent 15 rounds of voting before Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy was confirmed for the post. Johnson eventually emerged as an opposition candidate in October 2023 after McCarthy’s removal from the position, when eight Republicans went rogue to vote alongside Democrats – the first such ouster in the country’s history.

With inputs from agencies.