What looked like certain failure ended with sudden success for Mike Johnson on Friday, after Donald Trump was able to convince two Freedom Caucus holdouts, Reps. Ralph Norman and Keith Self, to switch their votes to hand Johnson the speaker’s gavel for the 119th Congress.
The first ballot in the speaker election appeared to end without Johnson having the votes, after three Republicans voted for other GOP lawmakers. But as the clerks tallied the results, Johnson and his Republican allies worked the holdouts.
After about an hour of arm-twisting — both on the House floor and out of public view in the Republican cloakroom — as well as a phone call from Trump, Norman and Self reversed themselves.
In the end, Rep. Thomas Massie was the only Republican to vote against Johnson. And that was after another half dozen Freedom Caucus members also signaled discomfort with the speaker, refusing to vote when their names were called and only supporting him once it was clear he didn’t have the votes to take the gavel at first.
Self told reporters that Trump spoke with him directly, convincing him to back Johnson.
“We had a lively discussion,” Self told NOTUS.
A source with direct knowledge of the discussion also told NOTUS that Norman spoke directly with Trump, after fellow South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace was seen leading Norman into the GOP cloakroom just off the House floor.
Norman told NOTUS his conversation with Trump went “very well” and that Trump argued Johnson was the only one who could win the job because “he’s likable.”
While the holdouts wanted assurances on spending cuts, a more open legislative process, more influence for conservative members and more time spent working in Washington, D.C., Johnson had a simple answer when asked what changed to flip Norman and Self.
“Nothing,” he said.
Instead, Trump’s pleas seemed to play an outsized role in Johnson’s success.
Days before the speaker election, Trump endorsed Johnson. His support seemed to sway a number of the dozen or so holdouts who backed Johnson on the floor. Eight Freedom Caucus members — Chair Andy Harris, as well as Reps. Chip Roy, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, Michael Cloud and Andy Ogles — signed a letter citing Trump’s endorsement as their justification for backing Johnson.
“Today, we voted for Mike Johnson for Speaker of the House because of our steadfast support of President Trump and to ensure the timely certification of his electors,” they wrote. “We did this despite our sincere reservations regarding the Speaker’s track record over the past 15 months.”
Rep. Eric Burlison shared a similar view.
“While I have reservations about the past year with Johnson,” Burlison told NOTUS, “I’m going to back Donald Trump, and since he’s backing Johnson, I’m going to back Trump’s decision.”
Ahead of the vote on Friday, Massie said he wasn’t worried about Trump’s reaction. “It would be a waste of time to reach out to me,” Massie said.
For the other Republican holdouts, it didn’t appear to be a waste of time, though Johnson’s own lobbying also seemed to play a role.
As Norman and Self switched their votes, Johnson joined them at the well of the House and shook their hands.
Before the vote, Cloud told NOTUS his meeting with Johnson was “productive” and that the holdouts sought “the right mix of those things that could as best as possible guarantee us being able to enact an American first agenda.”
Roy, one of the Republicans who waited to vote until the end of the proceedings, told NOTUS that his concern “always has been that we follow through and deliver on the president’s agenda and what we ran on.”
He said he wanted to see commitments on slashing government spending and changes to the legislative calendar to include more days in session.
“Why aren’t we in as much as the Senate?” he wondered.
“We want to get things done,” he added. “I can promise you this: Something’s going to have to change, whether it’s today or shortly.”
But there was also wide recognition that if Johnson didn’t prevail, the Republican conference wouldn’t be able to rally behind a clear successor. Even the three original Republican votes against Johnson were all for different people. (Norman voted for Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Massie voted for No. 3 House Republican Tom Emmer and Self voted for Florida Rep. Byron Donalds.)
“You can’t replace somebody with nobody,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, told NOTUS before the vote. “And who else is going to get to 218 other than Mike? I don’t believe anybody could.”
“There’s 219, soon to be 220 members of our conference, and 435 members of the House,” he added. “We all represent roughly 750,000 people. Nobody should have an outsized voice.”
Rep. Lisa McClain, who delivered Johnson’s nominating speech before the vote, predicted during the brief no-man’s-land before the holdouts came to Johnson’s side that he would “figure it out.”
“He always does,” she said.
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Haley Byrd Wilt, Oriana González, Riley Rogerson and Reese Gorman are reporters at NOTUS.
Katherine Swartz and Tinashe Chingarande, who are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows, contributed to this report.