President-elect Trump reasserted his authority over the House Republican conference in a dizzying speaker vote on Friday, saying he still has significant influence over Republicans on Capitol Hill despite some recent allegations. proved.
The victory of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) in the first vote was a long-awaited victory in Washington. Trump endorsed the Louisiana Republican for the top spot, and by Friday morning he called on his behalf and assured him of his support.
And the victory came at a critical moment for the president-elect.
Friday's vote comes after most of the conference attendees, including Mr Johnson, voted last month to pass a bill that did not mention borrowing limits, rejecting his call to include a debt ceiling increase in the Government Funding Act. Questions have arisen among Republican lawmakers about Trump's influence.
Then, just days before the speaker's election, about a dozen conservative hardliners gave Johnson a gavel, saying they were undecided about whether to run, despite President Trump's public support for Johnson. The group was large enough to stop them.
But in Friday's first round of voting, only three Republicans voted for anyone other than the Louisiana Republican, far fewer than the large number of Republicans who withheld their support in the final hours before voting.
And after a last-minute phone call with Trump, two of the holdouts, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-Texas) and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), voted to support Mr. Johnson. , giving Republican leaders just enough support. Grasp the gavel.
In a letter to Republican lawmakers after the vote, 11 members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, including Norman, wrote to the chair “to steadfastly support President Trump and ensure timely certification.” He said he supported Mr Johnson “despite my sincere reservations”. His election of electors is scheduled to be held on Monday.
“Under the rules, there is always room to negotiate the so-called ‘leader’ position. In the meantime, our respective election certificates remain equal,” the group wrote. “We can argue about character later, but right now there is no margin for error regarding the policies that the American people called for when they voted for President Trump, and the policies that are needed to save our country.”
The surprising series of events that unfolded at the Capitol underscores that despite Trump's recent setbacks, he still has tremendous influence among Republicans, and as a white lawmaker, That stance is likely to become even stronger when he officially begins his second term in office. house.
“The president wanted the chairman. The president just won a major election. So I think, broadly speaking, he's entitled to put the people he wants in the right places.” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of Mr. Johnson's sharpest critics and who reportedly spoke to Mr. Trump ahead of the House vote, is the Louisiana Republican on the first ballot. Speaking to reporters after voting for members.
Trump, meanwhile, was quick to tout Johnson's victory on the first ballot as a Republican victory.
“Mike will be a great Speaker and our country will benefit from it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday. “The American people have been waiting four years for common sense, strength, and leadership. They'll get it now, and America will be greater than ever!”
While Norman and Self insisted that Trump's call was not necessarily the main pivot behind their decision to back Johnson, they also pointed to assurances about the upcoming legislative process. It turned out to be crucial in getting him across the finish line.
When it became clear that Mr. Johnson would not reach the gavel on the first vote, Rep. Nancy Mace (R.C.) tried to call Mr. Trump, two sources familiar with the matter said. told The Hill. One of the sources said he personally voted against Mr. Johnson despite having a one-on-one phone call with Mr. Trump before the vote.
Mace called Trump and handed the phone to Norman, who spoke with Trump outside the House chamber, the people said. Norman said Trump was playing golf while on the phone.
At one point, Norman said he criticized President Trump for endorsing former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. After Haley withdrew, Norman endorsed Trump.
Hardline conservatives have been demanding that Johnson agree to a number of unspecified promises on spending cuts and legislative procedures throughout his campaign for the House of Commons, but he has consistently maintained his position as Speaker of the House of Commons. He stated that he had no intention of entering into any agreement for this purpose.
Shortly after Norman's call, Johnson joined Norman, Self, Mace, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), and Hogan Gidley, a Johnson staffer who previously worked in the Trump White House. , gathered in a private room off the House floor. Mr. Mace called Mr. Trump again, put him on speakerphone and spoke in the room, the people said.
The only holdout, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), was seen as solidly opposed.
A source said the calls were tense at times. Another person said Trump used expletives throughout the debate.
The president-elect's message, the people said, was that voters have given the Republican Party a mandate and that installing Mr. Johnson as chairman is essential to starting the process of achieving the president-elect's policy goals. Trump did not threaten to support primary challenges to Norman and Self, two people familiar with the matter said.
“They were invading in no uncertain terms. [the] “This is to maintain America First policy,” one source said of Trump's message.
One of the people said that as lobbying efforts were underway Friday, Mr. Cammack spoke with fellow members of Congress to vote to avoid having to move to a second vote, as House Republican leaders had originally planned. He said he tried to keep it going. According to the person, Republicans tried to hide the tellers in order to prevent voting from ending.
Finally, about an hour after the roll call vote ended, Norman and Self emerged from their cubicles and walked to the well in the chamber, where they changed their votes in favor of Johnson, giving Louisiana Republicans the majority they needed. gained support. Grasp the gavel.
“The president has been really helpful,” Norman told reporters after the vote. “His message to me is that Mike is the only one with the likability to be elected Speaker of the House. I get that.”
The House vote was an important test of President Trump's influence in the run-up to his inauguration, but 38 House Republicans voted against his push to raise the debt ceiling. We cannot afford to allow further setbacks.
Sources said Trump was frustrated by Johnson's inability to pass increases as part of a final spending deal, leaving the possibility that the president-elect might not publicly support Johnson in the speaker race. That's what it means.
But Trump's allies say there is no clear alternative that can muster the necessary support, and the messy fight for the gavel could delay certification of Trump's victory and undermine Republican efforts to take office later this month. He argued that it was possible to do so.
The president-elect and his allies have argued that a smooth start to Mr. Johnson's second term requires an early vote to elect him as speaker, and Mr. Trump ultimately faces public and private skepticism. He tried to persuade Republicans.
In addition to private calls with lawmakers, Mr. Trump publicly encouraged Republicans to support Mr. Johnson on social media. Trump also remained in contact with Johnson throughout the process. The two met on Monday ahead of Trump's public endorsement of Johnson and met at Mar-a-Lago on New Year's Day to discuss strategy ahead of Friday's vote.
One Republican official said the House vote could help Mr. Trump win a razor-thin House majority by persuading or pressuring a small group of holdouts, rather than dozens of skeptics as in the government funding debate. He claimed to have highlighted what was most valuable among them.
Meanwhile, the funding battles and speaker battles are likely to become a sometimes tense battle over the next two years to get President Trump's policies through narrow Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress. It is highly likely that this was a preliminary battle.
“Obviously, you have to go through a little bit of that drama. But the reality is that we have a House of Representatives and a Senate because of my father, because of the mandate that the American people gave to every member of Congress.” ,” Donald Trump Jr. said on Fox News on Friday. “And it's time for them to start representing that. It's time for them to start representing the districts that elected them.”
