Posted on Saturday, January 4, 2025

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by Shane Harris

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In surprisingly quick fashion, Mike Johnson won election to his first full term as Speaker of the House on Friday. He did so largely thanks to the support of President-elect Donald Trump – further signifying how unified the party is behind Trump and providing hope for conservatives that House Republicans can pass Trump’s agenda even with a historically small majority.

Johnson won the speakership in just one round of voting, avoiding the unprecedented 15 rounds that it took his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, to secure the post following the 2022 midterms. The final count was 218-215-1, with one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, casting his ballot for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

The 218 votes were the bare minimum required to secure the gavel, a sign of just how precarious the House GOP’s majority is. But the manner in which Johnson emerged as the victor was nonetheless an encouraging sign for the party with significant legislative battles looming in early 2025.

Heading into the Christmas holiday, it looked as if Johnson’s hold on the speakership was tenuous at best. With government funding set to expire on December 22, Johnson faced an all-out mutiny within his party after introducing a continuing resolution to fund the government through March 14. That 1,547-page bill contained funding for numerous initiatives and programs unrelated to funding the government, leading to opposition from high-profile conservatives, including Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Facing a looming government shutdown, Johnson responded by introducing a revised version of the bill which failed to pass the House owing to several defections from his fellow Republicans. On the eve of government funding expiring, a stopgap funding measure finally passed – but with more Democrats than Republicans voting in support.

With the Speaker vote set for January 3, it looked like the 119th Congress was going to devolve into chaos before it even started, threatening to undermine the significant victories Republicans won last November. As AMAC Newsline reported last month, the most significant hurdle to fulfilling Trump’s promises to the American people was always going to be overcoming infighting among House Republicans, as just a few recalcitrant members can derail any legislation.

But just when it looked as if Republicans might be in for another drawn-out battle over the speakership, Trump offered his endorsement of Johnson. “Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on December 30. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement.”

Almost immediately, the opposition to Johnson within the Republican caucus began melting away. By the time of the vote, just three Republicans were still “no” votes – yet this was still enough to deny Johnson the speakership. But as Punchbowl News reported, after personal lobbying from Trump, Reps. Keith Self (TX) and Ralph Norman (SC) changed their votes to Johnson, leaving only Massie opposed and boosting Johnson over the top.

There are certainly plenty of legitimate qualms with Johnson’s speakership so far – he explicitly promised not to dump an enormous funding bill on lawmakers just before the holidays and then did exactly that. Various other conservative priorities have failed to pass the House under his watch. Trump himself was irked with Johnson just a few weeks ago for failing to raise the debt ceiling.

But what Trump wisely understood is that Johnson likely remains the closest thing to a consensus candidate that exists within the current Republican House caucus. As Trump explained in his post endorsing Johnson, “Let’s not blow this great opportunity which we have been given. The American people need immediate relief from all of the destructive policies of the last administration.”

Trump also understood that Johnson’s real test lies in the year ahead. With a Democrat Senate and White House and a slim House majority, Johnson, who seemingly backed into the speakership after Republicans failed to find another suitable replacement for Kevin McCarthy, was in an incredibly difficult position during the 118th Congress. The 119th Congress will be his opportunity to show he can hold the caucus together and pass Trump’s agenda.

That does not mean conservatives should give Johnson a free pass – like any other elected official, voters should hold him accountable to deliver on what he has promised. His job is simple: work with the incoming White House to pass the laws Trump outlined on the campaign trail. Anything short of that is a failure.

If it was at all still in doubt after the 2024 election, Trump’s endorsement of Johnson also showed that he is in firm control of the Republican Party, and that voters expect their Republican elected leaders to fall in line behind Trump’s America First agenda. Johnson won the speakership, but Trump scored a major victory by flexing his influence with the incoming Congress while avoiding a messy intra-party fight.

This situation is starkly different from the one which faced Trump in 2017, when the old guard establishment wing of the Republican Party was still firmly entrenched in Congress and opposing key elements of Trump’s populist America First agenda. What the Johnson fight revealed is that although Republicans had a House and Senate majority during Trump’s first two years, this version of the GOP majority – one run by Trump allies – is far more likely to work with Trump rather than against him.

For Republicans interested in getting to work to pass Trump’s policies and not bicker amongst themselves, it all amounts to a promising start to 2025.

Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.