Johnson Drama Proves GOP Has Little Room for Error

Speaker vote was a crucial early test for the incoming Trump administration

- MOLLY BALL

The new Republican Congress charged into Washington on Friday, eager to proclaim a new era of governance and get to work on its fresh electoral mandate.

Naturally, it would not be quite that easy and the drama that briefly clouded the normally ceremonial vote to pick a speaker foreshadowed the continuing challenges ahead for a party with a thin House majority.

Mike Johnson, the Louisiana congressman and erstwhile House speaker, managed to win his gavel back on the first ballot as the newly elected House of Representatives convened for the first time. It was a promising sign for the speaker and his party's chances of maintaining unity and getting things done. Yet several archconservative members initially withheld their votes during the roll call in the House chamber, and three Republicans initially cast protest votes for other candidates, a move that sparked a frenzied round of talks between Johnson allies and the holdouts and a late intervention by President-elect Donald Trump.

Within an hour, two of the three, Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Florida, had flipped their votes to Johnson, giving him the majority and the speakership. (Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky remained unmoved.) While Johnson breathed a sigh of relief, and could take credit for successfully bringing the vote home, many GOP members viewed the momentary revolt as a shot across the bow from the perpetual troublemakers of the House Freedom Caucus.

"Tough to save a country," Rep. Tony Gonzales (R., Texas) wrote on X, "when Republicans can't get out of our own way." The speaker vote was a crucial early test for the incoming Trump administration and his Republican Congress. While his transition effort has been focused and purposeful, his policy priorities and ability to execute on them remain open questions as he returns to Washington.