House Speaker Mike Johnson initially failed to win reelection on the first ballot taken among the members of the 119th Congress on January 3. Johnson lost three Republican votes, from Kentucky’s Tom Massie, Keith Self of Texas, and South Carolina’s Ralph Norman. That’s two more than he could afford with his narrow majority.
But then, after extended direct negotiations with Johnson visible to both House members and C-Span viewers, Self and Norman switched their votes to back the incumbent Speaker.
The shift prevented a deeply embarrassing and potentially disastrous scenario for Republicans. Election of a Speaker precedes all other House business, including the swearing-in of new members and the planned confirmation of Donald Trump’s presidential victory on January 6.
Now we await word of what concessions Johnson made to get these last holdout votes, above and beyond whatever he gave the hard-core House Freedom Caucus members who voted for him initially. The price the country may pay could be considerable.
This post has been updated.
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