Republican Mike Johnson re-elected House Speaker on first ballot on Friday, forcing past hard right GOP holdout and buoyed with nod support from President-Elect Donald Trump.
A group of hardline Republicans gathered in the rear of the House chamber during a contentious roll call on the first day of the new Congress, one by one refusing to vote or selecting another lawmaker.
The standoff ignited fresh turmoil signaling trouble ahead under unified GOP control of Washington.
In the end, however, Johnson was able to flip two remaining holdouts who switched to support him, drawing applause from Republicans.
As the most recent speaker, Johnson's weak grip on the gavel threatens not only his own survival but President-elect Trump's ambitious agenda of tax cuts and mass deportations as Republicans sweep to power.
Newly-elected House lawmakers began to vote as Johnson's nomination was presented for consideration by GOP Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich.
"No speaker's perfect," she said. But the goal is to make progress toward shared priorities for the country, she said. "None of us will get exactly what we want."
Democrats offered up their own leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, as the only one who has a history of compromise and achievement in the face of "chaos and dysfunction" under the GOP majority.
House Democrats are united behind the most powerful legislative leader in this chamber," said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., of Jeffries, recounting the many times their votes bailed out Johnson to ensure passage of important legislation.
Getting opposition from his own GOP colleagues, Johnson arrived into the night with outward confidence still working to sway the hardline holdouts. A flop by Johnson could throw Monday's congressional certification of Trump's 2024 election victory into turmoil without a House speaker. Even backing from Trump himself, usually a sure bet for Republicans, was no guarantee Johnson will stay in power.
"We don't have time for drama," Johnson said as he walked into the Capitol.
The Louisiana Republican received a renewed nod of support from Trump. "A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party," Trump posted on social media.
What once was a ceremonial day with newly elected lawmakers arriving to be sworn into office, often accompanied by family, friends, and children, has become a high-stakes vote for the office of House speaker, among the most powerful elected positions in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris was swearing in the senators.
The Senate, of course, can convene on its own, and it has already elected party leaders in the form of Senator John Thune to be the Republican majority leader and Sen. Chuck Schumer for the Democratic minority. The House must elect its speaker first, a role required by the Constitution, second in the line of succession to the president.
Congress has been here before, when it took Republicans nearly a week and 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker in 2023, a spectacle unseen in modern times.
McCarthy was then dumped by his party, a historic first, but he was also part of a long list of GOP speakers chased to early exits.
This year, the stakes are higher for Trump as he is returning to the White House with the House and Senate under GOP control, promising to deliver big on a 100-day agenda.
Johnson has been working diligently to avoid defeat, spending New Year's Day at Mar-a-Lago as he positions himself by Trump's side. The speaker frequently portrays himself as the "quarterback" who will be executing the political plays called by the "coach," the president-elect.
But Johnson also cautioned that without a House speaker, there would be a "constitutional crisis" heading into Jan. 6, when Congress by law is required to count the electoral votes for president, weeks before Trump is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
"We don't have any time to waste, and I think that everybody recognizes that," he said.
Johnson has one of the skinniest majorities in modern times, having lost seats in the November election. The tally fell to 219-215 after the sudden resignation of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
That leaves Johnson counting on almost every Republican to back him, but he can only hope to count on nearly all of them in the face of Democratic opposition, and the usual 218 majority of 435 members needed could change with absences and others voting only "present."
Heading into Friday he didn't have full support.
Most notable among those holding out was Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, an unyielding member of the Freedom Caucus who lashed into Republican leadership's handling of the year-end spending bill for failing to cut spending and adhere to House rules.
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