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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) during a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 13, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
The elected president Donald Trump the comrade called again Republicans to select Representative Mike Johnson as Speaker House of Representatives on Friday as the 119th Congress ready to come to the session.
Trump’s support on social media came as Johnson — whose current term speaker ended at 11 a.m. ET — ahead of a potentially very tough vote in the House of Representatives, where the Republican Party has a super-brainy majority.
If every one of the 434 members of the House comes to a vote, Johnson would need nearly every Republican to vote for him to become speaker.
“Good luck today to Speaker Mike Johnson, a great man with great abilities who is very close to getting 100% support,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“Mike’s victory tonight will be a huge win for the Republican Party and another recognition of our most consecutive presidential election in 129 years!!” Trump wrote. “TRULY A GREAT STATEMENT. IT CAN!”
Johnson, who represents a district in Louisiana, needs a majority of House members present on Friday’s vote to become speaker of the 119th Congress. Voting should begin sometime before 1:00 PM ET.
Republicans have 219 seats in the new Congress. Democrats, who intend to nominate Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York for speaker, have 215 seats.
That narrow split means that if every House member is present and every Democrat votes for Jeffries, Johnson would need a minimum of 218 Republican votes to be elected speaker.
If two or more Republicans decide to vote for someone else, Johnson’s total support will drop below 218 and he will not be elected speaker on that vote.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massey of Kentucky has already said he does not plan to endorse Johnson, leaving no margin if Massey follows through on his pledge.
Johnson was first elected speaker on Oct. 25, 2023, three weeks after then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., was ousted from the seat when a handful of Republicans joined every Democrat to vote to oust him.
Johnson was the fourth candidate considered to replace McCarthy.
McCarthy himself had only been speaker for nine months when he was ousted — he was first elected speaker in January 2023 after four days of voting and 15 votes.
This is developing news. Check for updates.
