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Republican Mike Johnson held onto his post as speaker of the US House of Representatives after winning a dramatic vote Friday by a razor-thin margin.
Johnson appeared to have fallen short of the votes needed to be speaker on the first ballot, after three members of his party voted for other representatives. But before a second round of votes began, two of those votes changed to Johnson, giving him a narrow majority.
Johnson could only afford one defection if every lawmaker showed up and voted for a person — as opposed to voting “present” — despite President-elect Donald Trump endorsing him.
Republicans won control of both houses of Congress as well as the presidency in last year’s election, but remain divided: Johnson is unpopular with some GOP hardliners for his willingness to cooperate with Democrats, most recently by passing an 11th hour spending deal to avert government shutdown.
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House Republicans were optimistic they would elect a new speaker Friday.
“I’m guessing two [ballots]... if Trump kicks some ass, that will be it,” one GOP lawmaker told Semafor.
Kevin McCarthy won the speakership in January 2023 after a mammoth 15 rounds of voting, eventually swaying GOP hardliners with concessions on government spending and the rules around no-confidence votes, among others.
A drawn-out ballot was seen as a bad sign for Trump’s ability to push through his agenda, as well as the House’s ability to deal with the increasingly pressing debt ceiling issue: Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen last week warned that the federal government was running out of time to raise its debt limit.