Mike Johnson wins Republican support to be House speaker again after Trump endorsement
Speaker Mike Johnson has won the support of enough Republicans to stand as their candidate for the gavel in January.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was selected to lead the GOP conference again during a closed-door vote on Wednesday.
The vote was unanimous, two sources in the room told Fox News Digital, despite conservatives threatening to protest Johnson getting full support.
The internal election was delayed by roughly an hour and a half as Johnson met with his GOP critics to "hash it out," two other sources told Fox News.
It comes after President-elect Donald Trump addressed House Republicans earlier in the day and said he was "100%" behind Johnson, multiple sources in the room told Fox News Digital.
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It's been a meteoric rise for the Louisiana Republican, who was a relatively little-known lawmaker when he was elected to succeed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after he was ousted by all House Democrats and eight fellow Republicans.
Johnson has endured much of the same chaos as McCarthy while presiding over a razor-thin House majority, with GOP rebels weaponizing the small margin in efforts to force the conference to pass more conservative policy.
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But Johnson did not face any significant challengers on Wednesday, nor was he expected to with House Republicans on track to hold onto the chamber majority in the 119th Congress.
It could be a different story in January, when he will need a majority of the entire House chamber to be elected speaker.
McCarthy infamously had to endure 15 rounds of House votes and was forced to make concessions to a small group of holdouts in exchange for their support.
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With Johnson projected to win just a slim single-digit majority again, he can afford little opposition – or risk paralyzing the House under a new Trump administration.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., ran uncontested for their current roles and are expected to win.
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