House Speaker Mike Johnson predicts he’ll survive a Friday vote to hold onto the top leadership role.
“We’re going to get this done,” the Louisiana Republican said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
The House floor election for speaker is the first vote that the 119th Congress will take other than a traditional quorum call to gather members; it occurs before they’re officially sworn into office.
Mr. Johnson cannot afford more than one or two GOP defections in the speaker vote, depending on whether former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, shows up to participate before officially resigning from the 119th Congress, as he stated he intends to do.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, has already said he won’t vote for Mr. Johnson, while several other Republicans remain undecided.
“We cannot afford any palace drama here,” Mr. Johnson said. “We have got to get the Congress started, which begins tomorrow, and we have to get immediately to work. We have to certify the election of President Donald J. Trump on January 6, on Monday. And we have many important things pressing on us right now, so there’s no time to waste. We have to stay unified.”
Mr. Trump has endorsed Mr. Johnson to remain speaker. The president-elect told reporters at his New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago that he expects Republicans will vote to retain him.
“He’s the one that can win right now,” Mr. Trump said. “People like him. Almost everybody likes him. Others are very good too, but they have 30 or 40 people that don’t like them, so that’s pretty tough.”
Mr. Trump said he would call members on Mr. Johnson’s behalf “if necessary.”
“But I think really we’re going to have a great time. We’re going to get a successful vote,” he said. “He’s a good man. He’s a wonderful person, and that’s what you need.”
Mr. Johnson said he is “humbled and honored” to have Mr. Trump’s endorsement, as well as support from leaders across the Republican Party.
“The American people gave us a mandate. You know, President Trump got 77 million votes, we got almost 75 million for House Republicans, the largest number ever,” the speaker said. “And they have sent us a message that they want us to begin fixing all of this, and we will.”
Most of Mr. Johnson’s critics said they’re disappointed in him for cutting deals with Democrats to send billions to Ukraine and to continue high levels of government spending — with Democrats providing more votes than Republicans to pass those measures.
“The reason I am still undecided on the Speaker vote (as opposed to hard no) is it’s not ALL the fault of @SpeakerJohnson & my desire is to give him grace & @realDonaldTrump room to deliver on a strong agenda for which we were elected,” Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican, posted Wednesday on X. “But something MUST change.”
Mr. Johnson said he spoke to every one of his colleagues over the holiday break and made the case to Republicans who have been frustrated with his leadership during this past year of divided government that things will be different once Mr. Trump is in office and the GOP controls the Senate.
“I think the reason they’re all going to vote yes is this: We’re shifting into a brand-new paradigm,” the speaker said. “We have unified government that begins tomorrow. We have the White House, the Senate and the House. A totally different situation than we dealt with over the last 14 months since I’ve been speaker. So, we’re excited to deliver on the America First agenda.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.