WASHINGTON ― When it meets for the first session of a new Congress on Friday, the House of Representatives has to elect a speaker before it can do anything else.
It’s not clear if Republicans are up to the task.
Current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) projected confidence on Thursday morning that he would be reelected, but allowed that the vote would be close.
“We’ll have a margin of probably two votes tomorrow during that, so can only afford to lose one or two, but I think we’ll get it done,” Johnson said on “Fox & Friends.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has said he won’t support Johnson, and several other Republicans, such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), have sharply criticized their speaker while not outright promising to vote against him.
The stakes are high. Johnson noted that if the House doesn’t elect a speaker, then Congress won’t be able to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
“We cannot afford any palace drama here,” Johnson said. “We have to certify the election of President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 6, on Monday.”
Palace drama has been a persistent feature of Republican rule since winning the House in 2022.
It took former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) 15 ballots to win the speaker’s gavel in January 2023. Eight months later, Republicans dumped McCarthy for allowing the House to pass a government funding bill with support from Democrats. For three weeks, the House ceased functioning while Republicans struggled to figure out who could succeed him, ultimately settling on Johnson because he had made the fewest enemies since coming to the House in 2017.
Once again, the Republicans who oppose their speaker have no clear alternative. And a prolonged speaker drama could even interfere with the inauguration of the president-elect on Jan. 20.
Last month, Trump spoke out against Johnson’s plan to fund the government, prompting several days of chaos before Johnson ultimately defied Trump’s demand that he include a provision adjusting the federal government’s borrowing limit in the bill. But Trump endorsed Johnson for speaker this week.
Still, it’s not clear if Trump’s endorsement can sway House hardliners.
“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie said on social media, referring to another former speaker who fell out with Trump and the rest of the party. “We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”
Roy also proved impervious to a primary threat from Trump during December’s funding fiasco.
As the vote looms, the Republican infighting could intensify.
“Chip and Thomas did not receive a mandate from the American people,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) said Tuesday on social media. “Get on board or get out of the way.”
