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WASHINGTON — Boosted by President-elect Donald Trump, Rep. Mike Johnson on Friday narrowly won his first full two-year term as speaker of the House, beating back a tiny right-wing rebellion that ultimately caved.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican and self-described “MAGA conservative,” secured the 218 votes he needed to be re-elected speaker on the first ballot. The Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, received 215 votes.
In the end, just one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against Johnson.
With Johnson’s election, Republicans now officially control both chambers of Congress and they can begin to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration and the ambitious legislative agenda that he has promised voters. Congress is slated to certify Trump’s election victory on Monday, Jan. 6, the fourth anniversary of the Capitol attack.
And Trump will take the oath of office at the Capitol on Jan. 20.
Follow along for live updates
A trio of conservative rebels initially voted to block Johnson from being re-elected speaker, defying Trump and threatening to paralyze the House, which cannot conduct any business until a speaker is elected.
They were among nine Republicans who publicly hesitated during the speaker’s vote — two initially voted for other candidates before flipping for Johnson, and six more withheld their votes during the first roll call. Those nine are notable as the GOP’s new rules package, if adopted, will require nine lawmakers to trigger a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair and remove Johnson — up from one member.
Massie, who has railed for weeks against Johnson, cast his vote for Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. And Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., voted for Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, while Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, voted for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
But that’s when Trump began getting involved, making multiple phone calls personally urging the holdouts to rally behind Johnson to enact his agenda. In the middle of his golf game, Trump got on the line with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace who passed the phone to her South Carolina colleague Norman, the latter said.
“He said, ‘Norman, we’ve got the most opportunity we’ve ever had, three houses … the trifecta. You don’t get that opportunity,'” Norman recalled. “And I said, ‘Mr. President, I agree with you but I’m just hoping Mike has got the oomph to pull it off.”
Later, before calling the vote to a close, Johnson huddled in the cloakroom just off the floor with Norman and Self, as well as key conservative members who voted for him — including House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and past Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa.
Trump again was put on the phone with the holdouts, Norman said. The president’s message to the group was “Get united!” according to Johnson.
They emerged roughly 20 minutes later and Self and Norman switched their votes, both backing the speaker. Following Johnson’s election and swearing in, he swore in all House members; new senators were sworn in earlier in the day.
After the vote, Self said he secured a commitment from Johnson that more conservatives, including Freedom Caucus members, will be included on the internal GOP team that is negotiating the “reconciliation” package that will serve as the vehicle to enact Trump’s agenda.
“We needed to shore up the processes to make it more member-oriented for the Trump agenda,” Self told reporters, “because we needed more input from members like myself — not a chairman, not a leadership position — and I think that’s what we have done.”
Just 15 months ago, Johnson, then the No. 7 GOP leader, rose from obscurity to become speaker following a conservative coup that toppled Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. During the three weeks that followed, several of McCarthy’s top lieutenants — including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. — vied to win the prized gavel but fell short.
Johnson, a Trump ally with little name recognition and no known enemies, emerged from the dust victorious. During the past year, he struck deals with Democrats on spending, controversial Ukraine aid and the renewal of a powerful surveillance program known as FISA Section 702.
But it was precisely those bipartisan deals that infuriated some of his critics on the right. Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian-minded fiscal conservative from Kentucky, was the most vocal, vowing early on that he would oppose Johnson for speaker in Friday’s floor vote.
Johnson had argued that a protracted House floor fight over the speaker’s gavel — similar to the 15-round battle Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., endured two years ago — would delay the House’s work on implementing Trump’s 2025 agenda.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., pleaded with his colleagues to elect Johnson quickly.
“I hope not. I hope not. I hope not,” Barr said when he was asked whether it would again take multiple ballots to elect a speaker. “Unity is our strength and our leverage. … Do we really need to be spending multiple rounds fighting with one another?”
As they prepare for their GOP trifecta in Washington, Trump and congressional Republicans have laid out an ambitious agenda for 2025. They plan to use an arcane process known as budget reconciliation to bypass Democrats and renew the expiring tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first administration, as well as beef up border security, crack down on illegal immigration and tackle high energy costs.
“The clock will be ticking,” Johnson said on Fox Business. “We’ll have a lot of pressure on us on time because the American people will want to see results. Some of those negotiations, by design, take a long time … but I think we’re going to be able to get this ball over the goal line for the people.”
There is a growing division within the GOP over strategy for advancing Trump’s agenda, with some pushing for doing it all in one bill and others saying break it up and bag a victory on border security first before turning to taxes later in the year.
Johnson, pressed Thursday by Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow to pursue the one-bill strategy, kept his powder dry, saying there is a “compelling case” for it but that Republicans are still evaluating the path forward.
In addition to navigating a busy legislative agenda, the new Republican-controlled Senate will have to hold hearings and confirmation votes for Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Incoming Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is threatening to make senators work Fridays — which they rarely do — to get their work done.
Asked how long he expects that to last, Thune spokesman Ryan Wrasse told NBC News, “As long as it takes.”
Now that Johnson has secured the gavel for the next two years, the coming days will be busy on Capitol Hill.
Congress is scheduled to certify Trump’s presidential election victory on Monday. And, later in the week, former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda from Tuesday afternoon until Thursday morning. Johnson and Thune are expected to speak at a congressional tribute shortly after Carter’s casket arrives.
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
Kyle Stewart is a field producer covering Congress for NBC News.
Syedah Asghar is a Capitol Hill researcher for NBC News and is based in Washington, D.C.
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