After an extremely close election, Mike Johnson secured the reelection of Speaker of the House on Friday. When his abilities came into question surrounding Trump’s strict agenda of tax cuts and mass deportations, Johnson’s role was questioned, even by many Republicans.

Prior to the election, Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky affirmed there was no way he would vote for Johnson as Speaker. And with Matt Gaetz’s resignation, this meant that Johnson could only afford to lose one Republican vote, due to immense Democratic support for their nominee, Hakeem Jeffries of Maryland.

Even with endorsements from both Trump and Elon Musk, the state of the election was up in the air, along with the future of Republicans in the House. During the initial vote, things were looking dismal for Johnson when a collection of Republicans either refused to vote for him or in general.

After some personal negotiations where president-elect Trump even got involved, Johnson was able to convince enough Republican holdouts to vote for him, securing the victory. 

This election was incredibly important for the GOP party, as without a speaker, the Jan. 6 certification of the electoral vote for president would’ve been up in the air, which would have created issues for Trump’s inauguration. However, because Johnson was elected, the certification went without a hitch.

“Mike Johnson being a contender at all was a bit of a surprise to me, as he was always kind of an unpopular speaker, especially among his own party,” sophomore Dru Donohue said. “But the Trump endorsement made it almost impossible for another republican to take the lead, or even try to.”

“A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican party,” Trump said, congratulating Johnson on the win via X.