Representative. mike johnson Re-elected Speaker of Louisiana Lok Sabha on the first ballot on Friday after two of his three colleagues republican Those who had initially voted for other caucus members switched their votes to him.
Representatives Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas cast their votes for Johnson after confronting him near the House floor as the chamber’s clerk kept the ballot open for more than an hour.
Only one Republican, Representative Tom Massie of Kentucky, voted for someone else in the final tally – Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota – giving Johnson the minimum 218 votes needed to win.
Neither Emmer nor the other Republicans whom Norman and Self voted for the first time – Jim Jordan of Ohio and Byron Donalds of Florida – were nominated or sought speakership.
Johnson defeated Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who was nominated by his fellow Democrats. Jeffries received all 215 votes of the caucus.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, delivers a speech at the first session of the 119th Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol on January 3, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | getty images
presidential election donald trumpThose who had supported Johnson’s candidacy congratulated him on “receiving an unprecedented vote of confidence in Congress” in a social media post.
“Mike will be a great speaker and our country will be the beneficiary,” Trump wrote. “The American people have waited four years for common sense, strength, and leadership. They will get it now, and America will be greater than ever before!”
Johnson took his seat presiding over the House after the vote and called for a moment of silence for the victims of the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans.
Johnson was first elected speaker on October 25, 2023, three weeks after then-Rep. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from the position after a handful of Republican members joined every Democrat in voting to remove him.
Johnson was the fourth nominee to replace McCarthy.
McCarthy had been speaker for only nine months when he was removed – he was elected for the first time in January 2023 after four days of voting and 15 ballots.
