As Speaker Mike Johnson works to secure his position for the next Congress, he’s touting the support of one influential Republican: Donald Trump.
During a private meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, the president-elect threw his full weight behind Johnson, a seal of approval that may help the speaker stave off a floor challenge.
According to multiple sources in the room, Trump’s message to the conference about Johnson was simple: “I’m with him all the way.”
The endorsement comes as House Freedom Caucus members have begun to suggest Johnson will face a challenger. The Freedom Caucus originally planned to nominate an alternative candidate on Wednesday during the closed-door leadership elections, according to a source with direct knowledge of the plans. But the Freedom Caucus ultimately backed off.
Another source familiar with the effort said the group was having trouble finding a member to run against Johnson, and no member stepped forward during the candidate forum to challenge him, a member in the room told NOTUS.
But the closed-door vote is hardly the test for Johnson.
The floor vote in January has always been the real contest, and Politico recently reported that the Freedom Caucus plans to force a recorded vote for the speaker nomination, setting up members to write in names on a secret ballot.
But Trump’s message didn’t sway everybody.
After the meeting, Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman refused to say he was backing Johnson despite telling reporters, “We need to support Trump on everything he’s doing.”
Norman said apprehension on backing Johnson was over certain suspension bills the speaker had put on the floor and a failure to cut the deficit.
“We’re gonna have a discussion,” Norman said in response to questions about supporting Johnson. “I told Mike, don’t think discussions are against him, because it’s not. We’re all after the same goal.”
During the rest of Trump’s meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, the president-elect talked about how he helped GOP Senate candidates get over finish lines in key states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, helping Republicans take back the Senate majority. He also praised Elon Musk for his efforts campaigning in Pennsylvania and joked about wanting 15 House members to join his administration before saying he couldn’t do that.
But Trump told House Republicans he was done taking members from their ranks, according to Norman.
“He said he would like to take more, but he’s not going to do that because it’ll threaten our majority,” Norman said.
Trump also brought up possibly serving a third term if the House helped him out. The line was taken in jest and got laughs in the room.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say he’s good, we got to figure something else,” Trump said.
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.