The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, was re-elected in the first vote to this same speaker post, Friday January 3.
Mike Johnson came in first (218 votes), ahead of Democrat Hakeem Jeffries (215 votes), but it took an unexpected turn of events to see him re-elected to his post. Because, initially, three Republican elected officials had chosen to vote for other people, thus depriving him of the majority of 218 votes. But two of them, Ralph Norman and Keith Self, ultimately reversed course and chose to vote for Mike Johnson, allowing him to be elected speaker on the first ballot.
Just re-elected, he promised to adopt “drastic cuts” in the United States budget. “We will make drastic cuts in the size and scope of government”he said, adding that the Republicans would “return power to the people”.
Donald Trump quickly congratulated his ally on his re-election. “Mike will be a great speaker, and our country will benefit from it. Americans have waited four years for common sense, strength, and leadership. They’re going to have it now, and America will be even greater than before! »declared the president-elect on his Truth Social platform.
This election to the roost was a test of the influence of the future president in Congress, because he had given his support to Mike Johnson, wishing him ” good luck “ in another message on his social network. Donald Trump described the elected official from Louisiana as“good and very capable man, who is not far from having 100% support”. “A victory for Mike today will be a great victory for the Republican Party”insisted Donald Trump.
But given the slim majority of Republicans in the Lower House in this new legislature, the current speaker knew that he could not afford many defections in his camp. “We are going to have a margin of probably two votes”he told Fox News on Thursday, adding that he could not “allow yourself to lose only one or two”.
“I will not vote for Mike Johnson »
However, there were several who expressed their reluctance, or even a frank no, regarding the candidacy of the elected official, speaker for a little over a year. “You can pull out all my nails, you can stick bamboo in them, you can start cutting off my fingers: I will not vote for Mike Johnson”declared the most lyrical of them, Republican Thomas Massie, in an interview with the conservative channel OAN. Mr. Massie is ultimately the only one to have voted for another elected official.
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After the president-elect, billionaire Elon Musk – who has become one of the most important voices in Washington since his thunderous alliance with Donald Trump – had also cast his vote in favor of the current speaker. “I think the same thing. You have my full support”he responded this week on his social network X to Mike Johnson, who welcomed a message from Donald Trump in his favor.
A rejection of Mike Johnson’s candidacy would have represented a new snub in Congress for Donald Trump. Just before Christmas, the president-elect did not obtain the inclusion in a budgetary text of a measure on the debt ceiling which he nevertheless demanded loud and clear. A new failure would have given an overview of the difficulties that the Republican would have in getting his program through Congress in the first months of his presidency.
The battle for the perch had the air of déjà vu, after the unprecedented dismissal a year ago of the previous president of the Lower House, Kevin McCarthy. A fall orchestrated by the Trumpist fringe in Congress, which accused Mr. McCarthy of having increased the deficit by giving in too much to the Democrats – accusations that we now find against Mike Johnson. The dismissal gave rise to a twenty-two day psychodrama and exposed the internal struggles of the Republican camp to broad daylight.
