WASHINGTON – House Republicans gave Mike Johnson the speaker’s gavel for another two years on Friday – along with a warning.
Nine GOP lawmakers at first either abstained from voting for Johnson or voted for another person for speaker. All but one, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, changed their vote to Johnson before it was gaveled in, granting him the speakership on the first ballot.
But that number is significant: Under new House rules approved Friday evening, nine House Republicans will be needed to call a vote to oust Johnson from his role, a process known as a “motion to vacate.” And unless Democrats would be willing to save him in a closely divided House, nine members would be plenty to kick him out of Speaker’s chair.
The nine-member threshold to trigger a vacating vote is a significantly higher margin than Johnson and his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have had for the last two years. Under those insurgent-friendly rules, any single member could call a vote on the speakership.
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But Friday’s vote indicates there’s still a significant cohort frustrated with Johnson, one that could plunge the chamber back into chaos.
Johnson has had to navigate small margins in a fractious conference over the last two years. One of his promises was not to pass catch-all year-end spending bills, which conservatives have long bemoaned as a grab-bag of spending.
As a government shutdown approached late last month, Johnson struck a deal with Democrats to keep the government open − along with approving several other policies in a more than 1,500-page bill conservative members deemed a spending grab-bag. That deal collapsed after Trump and Elon Musk publicly opposed it, and a smaller funding bill was passed at the last moment.
If Johnson lost the speakership, it would be a major roadblock for Republicans seeking to take advantage of a GOP trifecta to pass President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda: The House cannot do anything without a speaker, and a leadership loss would significantly delay policymaking. When McCarthy was ousted in October 2023, the House was paralyzed for three weeks before Republicans coalesced around Johnson.
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A ‘sword,’ but no concessions
“Nobody wants to have a sword over their head. But we have a motion to vacate for a reason. He’s been given a job, he’s got to go do that job,” said Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., a House Freedom Caucus member who joined ten other members in voting for Johnson despite “sincere reservations” about his track record.
Asked whether a motion to vacate could get in the way of Trump’s agenda by creating more chaos in the House, he said he doesn’t think there’s a “threat” on table, but added: “We don’t work for a president, we work for the American people. We have a job to do.”
In fact, lawmakers who protested Johnson argued the process was necessary to ensure he would adequately fight for Trump’s agenda.
Johnson didn’t make any concessions in order to secure the gavel. But after every member had voted, Johnson and Trump convinced the two remaining holdouts – Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. and Keith Self, R-Texas – that Johnson was committed to Trump’s priorities and to including more rank-and-file members in big decisions.
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“Members are very focused on the president’s agenda as it stood during the campaign, and they have concerns that that’s not going to be enacted,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., who had questioned whether he would vote for Johnson but ultimately did so Friday. “He gave assurance that it will be.”
Amid the negotiations, at least one member reminded Johnson that there’s clearly a cohort that could call the motion to vacate, Norman told reporters.
He said there’s little appetite at the moment for more upheaval, and that Johnson recognized the risk.
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“I don’t want to go through that process,” Norman said. “I wanted to impress upon him that these were crucial key issues that we have to have. I think he gets that.”
Republicans plan to implement much of Trump’s agenda through one or more big bill packages. If done the typical way, most of his policies would hit a dead end in the Senate controlled 53-47 by Republicans, as 60 votes are needed to pass the vast majority of bills.
To get around that, Republicans plan to use a procedure called “reconciliation” to pass their tax and spending-related priorities with a simple majority vote – the same tool Democrats used to push through President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 and a COVID-19 stimulus bill in 2021.
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Self, one of the two members who voted against Johnson before switching, said the protest was necessary to “make sure we have the strongest negotiating team for the reconciliation process to come.”
“This was all about making the Trump agenda more successful,” he said.
Despite the near-miss, the tenor among Republicans leaving the floor Friday was one of hope and relief.
Johnson securing the speakership on the first vote is a “good sign for things to come,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., chair of the moderate Republican Main Street Caucus.
It’s not just about Johnson or Trump, he said. “This a team sport, we need to deliver together.”
Sudiksha Kochi contributed.
