Speaker-designate Mike Johnson, R-La., was re-elected to lead the House of Representatives on Friday.

The Louisiana Republican won along party lines during the first round of voting, a stark contrast to his predecessor’s drawn-out, 15-round battle in 2023.

It comes despite saber-rattling by some conservatives who threatened to withhold support from Johnson in protest of his handling of government funding and several other issues in the 118th Congress.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who was part of an unsuccessful push to oust Johnson last year, was the speaker-designate’s most vocal critic leading up to the Friday vote.

Other detractors included members of the House Freedom Caucus like Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has expressed interest in chairing the influential House Rules Committee.

In the final hours before the House speaker vote, President-elect Donald Trump placing calls to Republican holdouts, an effort to help Johnson win reelection and avoid a protracted leadership fight.

“Thank you, President Trump!” Johnson said on X. “Today is a new day in America. Congressional Republicans must stay united to quickly deliver President Trump’s America First agenda. Let’s get it done.”

Reporting from Fox News’s Liz Elkind and Breanne Deppisch.

Speaker-designate Mike Johnson is huddling with two of the Republican lawmakers who are considering voting against him in the first round of the speaker race.

Lawmakers convened on Friday to vote for a speaker of the House. The first round saw three Republican Rep-elects, Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Keith Self, R-Texas, cast their vote for a candidate other than Johnson.

However, the first round remains open and the lawmakers can still change their vote. A speaker candidate needs a majority of the vote to win, meaning that if the holdouts decide keep their original vote when the first ballot is made official, Johnson will not have received enough votes to secure the gavel and lawmakers will head into a second round.

Massie has been a definite “no” vote against Johnson for weeks was not seen at the meeting with Johnson. However, Norman and Self were seen entering the the GOP cloakroom with the Louisiana Republican after they cast their vote for a different candidate.

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House lawmakers have been urged to return to the chamber immediately during a first round vote to elect a new speaker that apparently did not result in any winners, three sources told Fox News Digital.

The sources said the notice was sent in preparation for a likely second vote.There’s not much else that can be done, given that the House of Representatives is paralyzed until a new speaker is chosen.

Speaker-designate Mike Johnson, R-La., appears on track to lose the first round, having not won an outright majority of lawmakers who are voting for a speaker.

Johnson won 216 votes, while House Minority Leader-elect Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., won 215. Three Republicans voted for someone else.

The first round vote has not formally ended, with House GOP leaders likely keeping it open while working out their next move.

President-elect Donald Trump gave his “complete” and “total” endorsement of Mike Johnson ahead of next month’s expected fight to hold onto the House speakership. 

“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”

Trump, championing the GOP as “the Party of COMMON SENSE,” also included a warning to Republicans.

“We ran a flawless campaign, having spent FAR LESS, with lots of money left over. They ran a very expensive ‘sinking ship,’ embracing DOJ & FBI WEAPONIZATION against their political opponent, ME. BUT IT DIDN’T WORK, IT WAS A DISASTER!!!” Trump wrote, adding: “LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN.” 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace.

Fox News’ Bret Baier appeared on “Outnumbered” Friday to discuss the mood in the House as lawmakers massed on the floor to hold their first votes for House speaker.

Several Republican lawmakers declined to vote when their names were called in the first round of voting, opting to hold their votes until the end of the ballot.

Two other members elect, Thomas Massie and Ralph Norman, ultimately voted against House Speaker Mike Johnson—effectively freezing all House activity, including the swearing in of House lawmakers, and the certification of Trump’s presidential victory, until a speaker is confirmed.

The “no” votes, coupled with the Republicans who declined to vote, leaves Mike Johnson’s possible reelection as House speaker hanging in the balance.

“We’re told [Trump] has had conversations that were positive for speaker Johnson,” Baier said Friday.

“In Trump world, we can see that they are watching this closely— they would like this to be clean, number one to get this moving, and most importantly, to certify the election that just happened on January 6,” he added.

The House of Representatives has started voting to elect a speaker of the House for the next congress.

Lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill on Friday to be sworn into the 119th Congress, but must first elect a speaker of the House before proceeding with any official congressional business.

Speaker-designate Mike Johnson, R-La., is seeking re-election for the top House post, however, the Louisiana Republican must win a majority of the vote to secure the gavel for another two years. Republicans currently hold 219 seats in the chamber, while Democrats hold 215, meaning that if only two Republicans vote against Johnson, he loses the first ballot.

Johnson was nominated by Rep-elect. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., who told Fox News on Friday that she is “cautiously optimistic” he will secure the speakership on the first round of voting. Democratic Rep-elect. Pete Aguilar nominated Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Several Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Ralph Norman, Tim Burchett, and Andy Biggs, have said that they remain undecided if they will vote for Johnson as of Friday morning. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has said he is going to vote against Johnson during the vote.

President-elect Trump endorsed Johnson for speaker, writing in a Truth Social post on Friday that the congressman is a “fine man of great ability, who is close to having 100% support.”

House Republicans appeared laid back and optimistic Friday as they gathered on the House floor ahead of the election of the next speaker.

The run-up to Friday’s election had been fraught, and more than a dozen Republicans suggested at various points that they were uncertain as to whether they would support the reelection of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who under the narrow House majority could afford just one GOP defector in order to retain control of the speaker’s gavel.

Efforts by President-elect Donald Trump to shore up support among Republicans appear to have been successful, and members appeared relaxed and calm Friday as they massed onto the House floor in preparation for a quorum vote.

Many members had brought their young children, and could be seen chatting amicably and taking photos with their colleagues.

Johnson, for his part, stood at the front of the chamber, often grinning broadly and taking photos with members-elect and their families.

Speaker-designate Mike Johnson released a list of commitments for the 119th Congress, if re-elected speaker on Friday.

“Republicans have a real opportunity in the next two years to make meaningful spending reforms to eliminate trillions in waste, fraud, and abuse, and end the weaponization of government,” Johnson wrote in a post on X. “Along with advancing President Trump’s America First agenda, I will lead the House Republicans to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, hold the bureaucracy accountable, and move the United States to a more sustainable fiscal trajectory.”

Johnson’s promises center around an effort to “restore fiscal responsibility” by creating a working group “comprised of independent experts – not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests – to work with DOGE,” Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency soon to be headed by Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk. Johnson then said he would task the group with “reviewing existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress – and issuing a report to my office for public release.”

Thirdly, Johnson promised to request that “House committees undertake aggressive authorizations and appropriations reviews, including providing additional resources where needed, to expose irresponsible or illegal practices and hold agencies/individuals accountable that have weaponized government against the American people.”

Republicans are expected to change House rules and make it more difficult to oust a speaker of the House, just one year after a single GOP lawmaker initiated the first-ever removal of a member from the position.

Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the House in January 2023 but was not elected on the first ballot. It took lawmakers four days and 15 votes to finally find consensus and back McCarthy for the position, but the infighting did not stop there.

House rules currently allow for one lawmaker to have the ability to introduce a motion to vacate the speakership and initiate a vote on the floor. So, when former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a motion to vacate McCarthy from the top House post, a vote was initiated, and enough support resulted in his ousting.

However, House Republicans are seeking to change this rule and make it harder to vacate the chamber’s top post in the future.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady.

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Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., who will be nominating Speaker-designate Mike Johnson on Friday, said that she is “cautiously optimistic” in his chances of winning the speaker vote on the first round, despite several GOP members who remain undecided.

The House is scheduled to vote for a speaker on Friday afternoon. Asked if she thinks Johnson will received a majority of the vote needed to win on the first ballot, the congresswoman told Fox News’ Bill Melugin “I sure hope so.”

“He is an absolute proven leader. He was given this daunting task and he’s done a very good job of navigating the waters,” she told Fox News on Friday. “he has a different approach though. It’s a very bottom up approach.”

“He’s done a very remarkable job, he’s strong, he an honest broker, and he listens. it might be a little messy out there, but at the end of that, that’s people airing their grievances and talking about what they want to see in the conference improve. 

McClain said that she is “confident” and “cautiously optimistic” that Johnson will be re-elected speaker on the first round and that she doesn’t think any other candidate could get enough votes to win the speakership.

“I’m hoping there are not any late surprises,” noting that Johnson has met with the lawmakers that have concerns. “I really don’t think its going to be that messy.”

In the final hours leading up to Friday’s House speaker vote, President-elect Donald Trump began making more calls to Republican holdouts, part of an ongoing bid to help Mike Johnson win reelection as House Speaker.

Trump’s calls with the lawmakers were all described to Fox News as being “positive” for Johnson. The eleventh-hour lobbying from Trump could help Johnson win the speaker’s gavel in the first round of voting, avoiding a protracted leadership election like the one seen by his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, ahead of his election as House speaker in 2023.

The news adds what Fox News’s Brett Baier described as cautious optimism among those in Trump’s world that Johnson will win the speaker’s gavel in the first ballot.

The President-elect was also described to Fox News as “engaged and watching” the process, and did not rule out the possibility of making more calls as needed on Johnson’s behalf, pending the results of the first speaker vote.

Reporting from Fox News’s Brett Baier and Breanne Deppisch.

The Constitution dictates that the 119th Congress begins at noon et on Friday. 

And the first order of business in the House is to elect the Constitutional officer for the legislative branch of government: Speaker of the House.

Only the House votes for Speaker. And the House can’t do anything – I’ll repeat that, anything – until it chooses a Speaker. 

It can’t swear-in Members until the House taps a Speaker and he or she is sworn-in. The Speaker then swears-in the rest of the body, en masse. Then the House must adopt a rules package to govern daily operations. Only then can the House go about debating bills, voting and constructing committees for hearings. 

If the House fails to elect a Speaker on the first ballot, it must proceed to a second ballot. 

And on and on. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Chad Pergram.

Lawmakers who have withheld support for Speaker Mike Johnson suggest that assigning one of the undecided members to a chair position could work in his favor during the upcoming speaker vote.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, has said that he has not committed to backing Johnson for speaker. However, Roy is currently seeking the position of chair of the House Rules Committee – an assignment in the hands of the speaker, who controls committee leadership.

“Right now, I believe members of the Freedom Caucus are concerned about one of their members, Chip Roy. They’d like to see him chair of the Rules Committee. I think if the Speaker were to do that, I think it would be over. I think he would be the Speaker,” Burchett said on NewsNation.

Several of Roy’s fellow Freedom Caucus members have signaled that they are not committed to backing Johnson yet, but are reportedly pushing the Texas congressman for the chair position and suggest such an assignment could help Johnson during Friday’s vote.

“Mike Johnson coming out and committing to Chip Roy being the chairman of the Rules Committee would secure the vote on the first round,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said during an appearance on former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s new show on One America News.

Johnson, however, said on Friday morning that he is not making deals in exchange for a vote.

“I don’t make deals with anyone,” Johnson told reporters. “There’s no quid pro quo here. I don’t do anything in exchange for a vote, other than commit to make this institution work as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson is staring down a razor-thin majority in his bid to retain the speaker’s gavel in the 119th Congress, following a year mired in partisan infighting capped by a stopgap spending showdown to avert a partial government shutdown.

Though most Republicans are expected to back Johnson in Friday’s roll call vote, he has little room for error with a 219-215 GOP majority, and the opposition of at least one House Republican.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already made clear his plans to not vote for Johnson — meaning that just one more defection would put Johnson below the 218-vote threshold.

Still, the House speaker election is the first order of business in every new Congress, and until one is selected, virtually all of the House’s agenda stands in limbo — including the swearing-in of members to the 119th Congress.

Should Johnson fail to secure the Republican majority, he will move to lobby Republican holdouts and likely make certain concessions before calling a second vote.

This process will essentially repeat until Johnson either wins the needed majority votes from his party, or until another Republican challenger emerges who can win over a majority of House members.

Likely working in Johnson’s favor is the calendar: On Monday, Jan. 6, the House and Senate must meet in joint session to certify Trump’s 2024 presidential victory.

It is unlikely Republicans would risk putting that on hold by failing to reach agreement on the speaker vote, and Trump has been making calls to possible “no” votes to attempt to gin up support for Johnson’s election.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson stressed Friday that has no plans to make deals or concessions to any Republican holdouts in order to secure their vote in the speaker’s election, telling reporters that “there’s no quid pro quo” when it comes to his leadership in the chamber.

Asked Friday about the intraparty divisions that could threaten his reelection as speaker, Johnson reiterated he has no plans to make deals in order to win over support from Republicans in the chamber.

I don’t make deals with anyone. There’s no quid pro quo here,” Johnson told reporters. “I don’t do anything in exchange for a vote, other than commit to make this institution work as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

Written by Fox News’s Tyler Olson and Breanne Deppisch.

The House of Representatives has convened for the last time of the 118th Congress.

Lawmakers convened for a a pro forma session on Friday, and will head into an immediate recess. Congress is expected to adjourn sine die at the end of the hour.

Shortly thereafter, the House will convene for the 119th Congress, beginning with a recorded vote on the quorum call. Lawmakers will then be called to vote for a speaker of the House – a race which could head into several rounds if Speaker Mike Johnson does not receive a majority of the vote.

Several Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Ralph Norman, Tim Burchett, and Andy Biggs, have said that they remain undecided if they will vote for Johnson as of Friday morning.

Republicans currently hold 219 seats in the chamber, while Democrats hold 215 House seats, meaning that if only two Republicans vote against Johnson, he loses.

After the House selects a speaker, members will be sworn into the new Congress. It remains unclear when the speaker will be named and members sworn in, as it took lawmakers four days to elect a speaker in 2023.

As House Speaker Mike Johnson seeks to retain his grip on the gavel, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., is demanding “assurances” that Johnson “won’t sell us out to the swamp.”

Johnson, who secured the speaker’s gavel last year, got a major boost on Monday when Trump endorsed him to remain in the role.

“I understand why President Trump is endorsing Speaker Johnson as he did Speaker Ryan, which is definitely important. However, we still need to get assurances that @SpeakerJohnson won’t sell us out to the swamp,” Spartz noted in a post on X. 

“President Trump will be able to save America only if we have a speaker with courage, vision and a plan – also public commitment to the American people how he will help deliver President Trump’s agenda to drain the swamp,” she added in another tweet.

Spartz had previously issued a statement on Monday in which she called out Congress’s profligate spending and demanded a plan to accomplish President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, something which she said she has not seen from current House Speaker Mike Johnson.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., stressed the need for the next House speaker to focus on issues of fiscal responsibility— injecting further uncertainty into Mike Johnson’s ability to secure the 218 Republican majority votes needed to retain control of the gavel.

“I am not committed to Speaker Johnson,” Burchett told Fox News on Friday ahead of the speaker vote, adding that he is “still waiting on some conversations” with the Louisiana Republican.

Burchett is among the 34 Republicans who voted against the government spending bill late last month, which narrowly cleared the House to avert a partial government shutdown.

The bill had sparked opposition from including Burchett and other fiscal conservatives, including Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex., who excoriated lawmakers last month for cutting against the Republican Party’s core tenet of fiscal responsibility. 

Asked on Friday what conversations he would need to have with Johnson to select him as speaker, Burchett said: “I would like some serious talk about fiscal responsibility.”

He added that his sense among House Republicans is that today’s speaker vote will be “razor thin.”

Johnson can afford to lose just one Republican defection in today’s vote.

If more than three Republicans vote “present,” Johnson also loses.

Should the House fail to elect a speaker on the first ballot, it must proceed to a second ballot—a process that repeats until a speaker receives the majority votes.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., received public support from Republicans in the Senate as he faces an uncertain vote Friday to determine whether he will maintain the role in the new Congress. 

“My friend [Johnson] has done an incredible job in the House, and I’m glad he’s at the helm there as Congress looks forward to growing our economy and safeguarding our communities in the new year,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on X. 

Johnson also got the backing of the other member of Lousiana’s Senate delegation, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. “I agree with President Trump that [Johnson] is the right man to lead. He’s a committed conservative and a man of integrity,” he wrote on X, referencing President-elect Donald Trump’s recent endorsement. 

During the last-minute government-spending fight last month, most Republican senators were careful not to call for Johnson’s replacement. However, that didn’t stop others, such as Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, from suggesting that someone else would do a better job. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson.

Two members of the House Freedom Caucus remain undecided on whether they will support Rep. Mike Johnson for speaker just hours before the first vote is scheduled to take place, Fox News Digital has learned.

The House is scheduled to vote for a speaker for the 119th congress on Friday afternoon. Johnson is seeking re-election in the chamber’s top post, but faces potential roadblocks as several members within his own party remain undecided on how they will vote.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., remains unsure whether he will vote for Johnson, telling Fox News Digital that he will decide “at 11:59.” Another Republican, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, also has not committed to supporting Johnson.

Several other members have revealed that they have not determined whether they will support Johnson. On Thursday. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital that he was “undecided,” while Rep. Chip Roy also remained on the fence in the days leading up to the highly anticipated vote.

One Republican has already vowed to vote against Johnson: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Johnson will need a majority of the vote in order to win on Friday. Republicans currently hold 219 seats in the chamber, while Democrats hold 215, meaning that if only two Republicans vote against Johnson, he loses that round.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this post.

The House will convene at noon today to select the next speaker, officially kicking off the 119th session of Congress— at least, when a majority of Republicans agree on who should hold the gavel.

The speaker vote is required before the House can conduct any other official business, including, importantly, the swearing-in of other House lawmakers, and the certification of Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.

A total of 219 Republicans and 215 Democrats are expected to vote Friday. This affords House Speaker Mike Johnson just one defection. Members can also vote “present” in lieu of a name, but Johnson needs a majority vote from the participating members.

If one Republican votes for someone else, then another GOP vote for someone else (or more than one “present” vote) means Johnson loses.

If more than three Republicans vote “present,” Johnson also loses.

If the House fails to elect a speaker on the first ballot, it must proceed to a second ballot. The process repeats until a speaker receives the majority votes. In 2023, lawmakers voted 15 times over five days before electing Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker— the longest speaker battle since before the Civil War.

The House of Representatives will soon vote for a speaker of the House to lead the chamber for the next two years under the incoming Republican administration.

The previous race for the top House post was plagued by infighting among the GOP, who have been unable to easily find consensus on a speaker candidate in recent years. Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted as speaker by his Republican colleagues in October 2023, and it took lawmakers several weeks to finally elect their next leader: Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.

Johnson is running to retain his position in the next Congress but has not yet received support from all of his Republican colleagues. The 2025 vote carries particularly intense pressure as the House must agree on and elect a speaker in order to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory just days later.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady.

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., is highlighting President-elect Trump’s support for the speaker race as he calls on the the GOP to unite ahead of Friday’s vote.

Trump, who endorsed Johnson on Monday, wished the congressman good luck ahead of the speaker vote, which is scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, praised Johnson as a “fine man of great ability, who is close to having 100% support.”

“A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!” Trump wrote.

Johnson responded to the post and thanked Trump for his support.”Thank you, President Trump! Today is a new day in America,” Johnson wrote in a post on X Friday morning.

“Congressional Republicans must stay united to quickly deliver President Trump’s America First agenda. Let’s get it done.”

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Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., is urging his Republican colleagues to “unite ” and rally behind Rep. Mike Johnson for speaker.

Gimenez told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that he is voting for Johnson on Friday, who currently faces one definite Republican “no” vote from Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. 

Asked about the holdouts, he said that this race “is bigger than all of us.”

“I think outside of Massie, nobody else is a hard no,” Gimenez told Fox. “This is bigger than all of us. We have an agenda that we need to move forward. A very aggressive agenda that the Trump administration wants us to pursue. None of that can happen until we have a speaker. We need to unite, get behind Mike Johnson, and get to work for America.”

House Republicans released their proposed rules package for the 119th congress that included an altered process for ousting a speaker. Currently, only one lawmaker can introduce a motion to vacate the speaker and initiate a vote on the House floor – seen in 2023 when Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a motion to oust former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

The new rules require that any lawmaker in the majority who seeks to oust the speaker must have eight cosponsors in order to introduce the motion to vacate. 

Gimenez said that the new rule, set to be voted on after the new congress is gaveled in, “doesn’t go far enough.”

“We can’t have the chaos that we had,” the congressman said, referencing the McCarthy ousting. “It can’t happen again. Again, this is about America, saving America. we need to move forward and unite as a party.”

President-elect Donald Trump wished House Speaker Mike Johnson good luck Friday in the House speaker vote, seeking to gin up support for Johnson among Republicans in the chamber ahead of the speaker vote Friday.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Johnson as a “fine man of great ability, who is close to having 100% support.”

Trump added, “A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!”

Johnson can afford just one Republican defection in order to win the 218 majority votes to retain control of the gavel.

Already, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has said he plans to vote against Johnson in the roll call vote. Others expressed frustration over Johnson’s handling of the spending bill last month, threatening his path to reelection.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., the only current outspoken Republican “no” against Speaker Mike Johnson in the House speaker race , shared a poll on social media asking whether he should be re-elected to the chamber’s top post.

The House is set to hold their first speaker vote for the new congress on Friday afternoon. Speaker Johnson is seeking re-election for the position, but faces potential roadblocks to retaining the gavel as Massie vows to vote against the Louisiana Republican.

“I conducted this poll just one week ago. Nearly everyone knows from his 18 month history of betraying Republicans and teaming with Democrats that Johnson isn’t the right guy,” Massie wrote in a post on X. “If he fails on the first round today, a better Speaker can be elected in a few hours or over the weekend.”

The congressman shared a screenshot of a poll, conducted on his social media page, that showed 7% of respondents think that Mike Johnson should win the race, while 93% opted for someone else to be elected Speaker.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stares down a difficult battle to retain the gavel on Friday, even despite an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump. 

Despite narrowly hanging on to the GOP majority, Johnson’s speakership hangs in the balance after a series of moves to fund the government that angered conservatives over the effort’s failure to cut spending. 

On the opening day of the 119th Congress, the House will vote on a measure to elect a new speaker, and Americans will catch a rare glimpse of the drama that breaks out on the House floor. C-SPAN has been granted permission to run cameras inside the chamber. 

If every member votes, Johnson can only afford one Republican defection and still hold on to his job. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already said he will not vote for Johnson. While other Republicans have refused to affirm their support for Johnson, none have joined Massie in vowing publicly not to vote for him. 

Read more about Johnson’s speakership fight from Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and Aubrie Spady.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who unsuccessfully sought to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson from the speakership last year, said that she will vote on Friday for Johnson to retain the gavel.

Last year, the congresswoman lambasted Johnson as “the Uniparty Speaker,” asserting that he “is exactly what is wrong with the Republican establishment” and had “done nothing for conservatives and given everything to Joe Biden and Democrats.”

But she now plans to vote on Friday for Johnson to remain in the leadership post.

“Let’s put aside our pride, let’s put aside our egos, and let’s put aside the infighting,” she said in a video, adding that it is time for the GOP to join together and “do whatever it takes to make sure that we deliver the mandate that the American people told us to do.”

Read more from Fox News’s Alex Nitzberg.

President-elect Trump gave Speaker Mike Johnson a major boost in his efforts to be re-elected as House Speaker this week when he announced his “complete and total endorsement” for the Republican leader.

“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”

Trump also had a warning for Republicans.

“We ran a flawless campaign, having spent FAR LESS, with lots of money left over. They ran a very expensive ‘sinking ship,’ embracing DOJ & FBI WEAPONIZATION against their political opponent, ME. BUT IT DIDN’T WORK, IT WAS A DISASTER!!!” Trump wrote, adding: “LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN.”

The boost came after Johnson had taken criticism from some Republicans over a spending deal to keep the government open. Johnson had relied on Democrats to get the deal pushed through the House.

If no Speaker of the House is selected, the House of Representatives becomes paralyzed and cannot perform essential functions, including authorizing the swearing in of President-elect Donald Trump.

There is a good chance that there will be a battle over who the next speaker will be in the new Congress due to the slim majority Republicans have, and it could draw the process out for weeks potentially if the GOP cannot come to a consensus. 

If that were to happen and no new speaker is immediately elected, the House won’t be able to do much of anything. That includes duties of swearing in new members of Congress and certifying the results of the Electoral College so the president-elect can be sworn in.

Meanwhile, the House could still continue holding hearings and votes without a speaker, but absent one there is no way to bring a bill to the floor for a full vote.

Additionally, without a speaker, the line of succession to the president is impacted. Typically, the Speaker of the House is next in line after the vice president, but without a speaker, the President pro tempore takes their place. As a result of this congressional paralysis, the House will continue to vote until a new speaker is selected or the current speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., is reelected.

With legislating at a standstill after three weeks of infighting, House Republicans finally decided on Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., for speaker on Oct. 25, 2023. The lower chamber had been without a speaker since Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from the job on Oct. 3. 

The 21-day gap between leaders was the longest since 1962, when it took 55 days to elect a speaker. There had only been five instances where a mid-session speaker election was needed, each time due to death or resignation, unlike the motion to vacate McCarthy. 

The fractured House GOP went through three failed speaker candidates – Reps. Steve Scalise, R-La., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Tom Emmer, R-Minn., before settling on Johnson in a 220-209 floor vote. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., had been serving as interim speaker, overseeing the election of an official speaker. When some Republicans tried to push McHenry to expand his powers and move legislation in the days of gridlock, he threatened to resign from the position. 

The debt ceiling, the amount of money the government is allowed to borrow, is currently suspended January 2025.

In 2023, Congress passed a deal signed by President Biden that suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025. President-elect Donald Trump, however, has been calling on GOP lawmakers to increase the debt ceiling before he takes office.

Trump urged congressional Republicans to prioritize raising or eliminating the debt ceiling when they were negotiating on deals to avert a government shutdown in December.

“It’s a fantastic idea, and President Trump is in full support of it, as he has expressed in recent days,” incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo of the push to raise the limit. “As soon as Republicans return to the Hill in January, they have to deal with the debt ceiling. This is the last tool in Senator Schumer and the Democrats’ toolbox to try to obstruct President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.”

Biden’s Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, recently warned that the debt limit could be reached as early as Jan. 14.

“Treasury currently expects to reach the new limit between January 14 and January 23, at which time it will be necessary for Treasury to start taking extraordinary measures,” Yellen wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

Ahead of the 118th Congress, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R–Calif., was the leading contender for Speaker of the House, but his road to the gavel was plagued by GOP infighting that eventually resulted in his ousting after a 10-month tenure at the chamber’s top post.

On Jan. 3 2023, Republican lawmakers held their first vote for speaker, but McCarthy, who received 203 votes in the first round, was unable to secure enough votes after 19 Republicans opted for a different candidate. The speaker race turned into nearly a week-long process filled with Republican infighting and hours spent negotiating on the House floor.

It took lawmakers four days, five candidates, and 15 votes to reach a consensus and elect McCarthy as speaker for the 118th Congress – with six GOP members voting “present” during the last round of voting.

McCarthy would hold the gavel until October 2023, before a member of his own party, former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, introduced a motion to vacate the speakership. The motion initiated a vote, in which McCarthy was ultimately removed from his position. 

The House was left without a formal speaker for several weeks, until lawmakers eventually elected Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., for the role. In December 2023, just two months later, McCarthy announced he would be resigning his seat at the end of the year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s future remains uncertain as it pertains to keeping the Republicans’ top spot in the lower chamber. He received a helpful boost from President-elect Donald Trump over the holiday recess, getting his endorsement ahead of the upcoming vote. 

“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump said on Truth Social. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”

Trump has demonstrated a significant influence over Republicans in the past, but the speaker race is expected to come down to just a handful of Republicans’ votes. While such a powerful endorsement can help Johnson, it certainly does not guarantee a win for him. 

In order to be elected, a member must get a majority of the votes cast for speaker. Depending on whether all members are present, how many vacancies there are, and if anyone chooses to vote “present,” thereby lowering the majority threshold, Johnson could be in a situation where he can only afford to lose one GOP vote. 

Some Republicans, such as Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., have already come out against Johnson, putting his speakership in danger. 

While a potentially lengthy speaker fight would not put President-elect Donald Trump’s presidency at risk, it could delay him taking office and further limit his time in the White House.

If House Speaker Mike Johnson is unable to garner enough support in a timely fashion, Republicans may find themselves in another difficult speaker selection process. The House will be unable to begin its legislative duties until a speaker is selected. 

In order for Trump’s 2024 election to be certified, Congress must meet in a joint session. But this can’t be done until a speaker receives enough votes. It is unlikely that any Democrats will lend Johnson or Republicans a hand and vote for their nominee. So Johnson or another candidate will need to try and scrape together enough GOP votes with a very slim House majority. 

If this process delays the election certification, which is meant to take place on Jan. 6, Trump’s taking office could also be delayed. He would then have less time to begin work on implementing his agenda. 

As Speaker of the House Mike Johnson faces reelection, Fox Digital took a look at the crucial role the speaker of the House holds in the upper echelons of government.

The Speaker of the House is an officer described in Article I, Section II of the U.S. Constitution, which also established the House of Representatives. He or she presides over the entire House and is elected by House colleagues. When a new Congress comes into session every two years, the speaker position is vacant and among the first duties of the House to fill.

The speaker supervises the day-to-day activities of House members, assigns committee leadership, decides which bills will be voted on, and serves as the most prominent spokesperson for the majority party’s agenda and priorities The speaker also serves as a key negotiator between the president and Congress.

The Speaker of the House also ranks notably high on the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. If a president no longer can serve in office, the speaker of the House is second in line to assume the position, behind the vice president

The House Speaker election is expected to be narrow and contentious. The 20th Amendment stipulates that a new session of Congress begins on Jan. 3.

With each session of Congress passing its own rules, House business is stymied until a Speaker is elected. 

With former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., indicating he will not return to his seat despite being reelected in his Pensacola district, that leaves the Republican caucus only able to weather a one-vote defection.

Gaetz called President-elect Trump’s endorsement of current House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to retain his role “’Art of the Deal’-level practicality” in a post on social media.

“We could never have held up [Kevin] McCarthy two years ago for concessions if a Trump certification hung in the balance. Now, it does,” said Gaetz, whom McCarthy blames for his turbulent ouster in 2023.

So far, Rep. Thomas Massie, a fiscally conservative member from Ashland, Ky., has indicated he will not support Johnson’s bid to remain House speaker, comparing him unfavorably to ex-Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Massie was also a no-vote on Ryan’s speakership, and wrote that the Wisconsinite “went on to offer a fake repeal of ObamaCare, increased spending, backed the deep state, and didn’t fund a [border] wall” – and that Johnson’s bids to “send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans and blow the budget” are comparable.

If other Republicans join Massie in either voting “present” or for a candidate other than Johnson, the House may be at a standstill for some time and unable to conduct other business including their own swearing-in.

One other speaker candidate is Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, N.Y.