House Speaker Mike Johnson Keeps His Gavel After Just One Round Of Voting After 2 Republicans Change Votes

After it appeared there were too many Republican defections to win the vote, Rep. Mike Johnson retained his role as House Speaker in the new Congress after apparent arm-twisting delayed the final vote in the first ballot.

Reps. Thomas Massie, Ralph Norman and Keith Self voted for other members besides Johnson, apparently dooming his election in the first round of voting.

There was then a long delay without the vote being called.

Norman and Self then change their votes to Johnson.

Johnson (R-Louisiana) had faced questions about his leadership, especially after crafting stop-gap spending bills in order to gain Democratic support so they could pass the narrowly divided House.

President-elect Donald Trump threw his support behind Jonson to retain the role.

"The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

"He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!"

Johnson could only lose one Republican vote to retain the leadership role. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky had previously stated he would not support Johnson.

Other House Republicans had said they were undecided ahead of the vote.

The quick reelection avoids the mess at the start of the last Congress when it took 15 votes to elect Mike McCarthy as House Speaker.