WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Friday selected Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson as their speaker of the 119th Congress after weeks of speculation about whether the GOP would enter another protracted public dispute over leadership.
The dramatic vote ensured Johnson, who was first elected speaker in October 2023, will hold the gavel as Republicans pursue an ambitious legislative agenda that includes overhauling the nation’s immigration system and tax code.
Johnson won votes of 218 Republicans and 215 Democrats voted for New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman, and Texas Representative Keith Self originally voted for other members as speakers. However, after several conversations on and off the court, Norman and Self switched their votes to Johnson.
The November elections returned power to the GOP unified government control, which will formally begin on January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office.
“This Congress will reject the status quo and we will listen to the voices of the people. We will act quickly, and that will start by defending our nation’s borders – that is our number one priority,” Johnson said during a speech on the floor after the vote. “This Congress, working with President Trump, will ensure our border and immigration enforcement officers have the resources they need to do their jobs.”
He said unified Republican control of the government would also lead to the deportation of people without legal status from the country and the completion of border wall construction.
Johnson said that over the next two years, the Republican Party would pursue bills that would cut taxes, escalate energy production and “reduce the size and scope of government.”
Trump support
Trump he supported Johnson earlier this week and reiterated his support ahead of Friday’s vote post on social media, writing Johnson is “a wonderful man with great abilities who is very close to 100% support.”
“Mike’s victory today will be a major victory for the Republican Party and another confirmation of our most important presidential election in 129 years!! – REALLY BIG CONFIRMATION. MAGA!”
Self told reporters he changed his vote after talking to Trump and Johnson about GOP priorities such as reconciliation.
“President Trump puts as much emphasis as I do,” Self said. “We need to make sure that Congress is as strong as possible when we go up against the Senate on a reconciliation package because there is an ongoing debate there about what a reconciliation package even looks like.”
Norman told reporters he changed his vote after Johnson “gave us the assurance that he will fight for everything in the future.”
Republicans plan to exploit the complicated budget reconciliation process to pass several of their policy goals, but the process is subject to strict rules that allow them to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota who took over as speaker of that chamber on Friday, committed to maintaining this procedural obstacle for bills inconsistent with the contract.
“Significant spending reforms”
Just before the speakers voted, Johnson outlined three commitments: write on social media that “Republicans have a real opportunity over the next two years to make significant spending reforms to eliminate trillions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse and end the weaponization of government.”
He pledged to establish “a working group of independent experts – not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests – to work with DOGE and our committees to implement recommended government and spending reforms to protect the American taxpayer.”
Trump has commissioned Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to set up an external groupcalled the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to recommend spending cuts to Congress, though depending on the recommendations, both sides could face significant opposition.
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.
Finally, Johnson wrote that he would “demand” that “House committees conduct aggressive authorization and appropriations reviews, including providing additional resources as needed, to expose irresponsible or illegal practices and hold accountable agencies/individuals that have weaponized government against the American people.”
Compare to McCarthy’s battle
Johnson’s election in the first round marked a slightly calmer start to the current Congress than the previous one, which took place in January 2023. when the House GOP needed 15 rounds of voting a few days before members elected then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
Nine months later, McCarthy was stripped of that role, and it took Republicans about a month to coalesce around Johnson after failed bids by Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
Johnson will need to work closely with Thune to ensure both chambers’ policies are consistent.
Both have a daunting list of legislative goals they will need to unite GOP lawmakers among their extremely slim majorities.
Voters elected Republicans to 220 House seats and gave Democrats 215 House seats, one of the closest majorities in the country’s history.
Johnson will have an even narrower margin of victory because former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz did not take the oath of office on Friday after deciding to resign from Congress in overdue December this year. An Ethics Committee investigation was initiated.
Two additional House Republicans are expected to leave office in the coming weeks to take positions in the Trump administration. Special elections to replace these three lawmakers will take months and will not necessarily guarantee that voters will choose Republicans to represent these districts.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate, giving Thune a little more room to negotiate policy, although not much.
The slim majority will require both far-right and centrist Republicans to support sweeping bills that are likely to touch on intricate policy areas such as immigration and taxes – an extremely hard task.
Republicans managed to pass a sweeping tax bill in 2017, the last time they had unified control of the government, but they held 241 seats in the House of Representatives at the time.
While all 51 Senate Republicans voted for the final version of the bill, more than a dozen GOP House lawmakers voted against the package and three did not vote.
Former state legislators in the 119th Congress
Nearly half of the 119th Congress – 247 of 535 members – were former state or territorial legislators, according to the data. 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 modern Congress.
California, Florida, New York and Texas have at least 11 past state legislators in the 119th Congress.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee found that 120 of the 260 Democrats were previous state legislators.
Last updated at 16:56, January 3, 2025
Pennsylvania’s House delegation adds two Republicans
On Friday, newly elected Pennsylvania U.S. Representatives Rob Bresnahan (R-8th District) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-7th District) took the oath of office.
Bresnahan turned the seat red defeating Democrat Matt Cartwright in the race for the district in northeastern Pennsylvania that includes Scranton. Cartwright has represented the region since 2013.
Mackenzie also put his place in the Republican victory column defeating Democrat Susan Wild in the race for the Lehigh Valley seat. Wild first won the seat in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022 before losing to Mackenzie in November.
Bresnahan will serve on the U.S. House of Representatives committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Agriculture and Small Business Mackenzie will be a member of the Education, Labor, Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committee.
