The Liberty Daily 
Update:Â Congressmen Keith Self and Ralph Norman switched their votes to Mike Johnson, giving him the 218 votes needed for a majority. Johnson is now officially Speaker of the House again.
BREAKING: Rep. Mike Johnson has officially secured the Speaker of the House position.
Reps. Keith Self and Ralph Norman switched their votes to Johnson, delivering the 218 votes needed to clinch the role.
Rep. Tim Burchett reflected on the moment, saying this about Johnson:… pic.twitter.com/FkGFJiMkrf
— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) January 3, 2025
Original Story: Congressman Mike Johnson failed to win the Speaker of the House vote in the first round for the 119th Congress. Hakeem Jeffries ended up with 215 votes while Johnson had 216. Three voted for someone other than the two party leaders.
218 was required for a majority. A second round of voting is expected.
President-Elect Donald Trump weighed in and fully endorsed Johnson even after bashing the Continuing Resolution that Johnson had initially proposed. It was over 1500-pages and loaded with pork. Johnson pulled the CR and came back with a “lite” version, which initially didn’t pass. Democrats voted with most Republicans on the third version, which passed.
After coming under fire from conservatives in the House for siding with Democrats far too often, there were several who simply wouldn’t accept him as Speaker of the House. Thomas Massie has led the charge to stop him and voted for Tom Emmer.
I'm a "Hell No" on re-electing Mike Johnson to serve as Speaker of the House. I joined @FmrRepMattGaetz on @OANN to discuss my opposition.
President Trump's agenda needs to become law. Speaker Johnson has already demonstrated he is not the man who can get that done. pic.twitter.com/JfVoCSNqDy
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 3, 2025
Ralph Norman voted for Jim Jordan while Keith Self voted for Byron Donalds. Some of Johnson’s critics, including Chip Roy, held their vote until the end to see the count.
Every Democrat voted for Hakeem Jeffreys.
We will update this story as more information is known.
