Republican Mike Johnson was re-elected president of the US House of Representatives, with the necessary 218 votes, after negotiating in the plenary session with two bench colleagues whose votes he needed to renew his mandate.
Johnson, the candidate for the position supported by the President-elect, Donald Trump, ended up obtaining 218 votes in favor, against 215 obtained by the Democratic candidate, Hakeem Jeffries, for whom everyone voted as a bloc, but initially he did not have the necessary votes, which is why which had to negotiate a change in the voting direction of two of the Republican congressmen, after an initial vote by voice that removed him from office.
The outgoing speaker initially faced opposition from several members of his own political camp, who criticized him for having made too many budgetary concessions to the Democrats, but ended up managing to be re-elected in the second vote on the first day of voting.
Given the short majority of Republicans in the lower house of the United States Congress in this new legislature, Mike Johnson was well aware that he could not afford many defections from his camp, and before the first vote, several Republicans had expressed reticence, or even his “no” to the candidacy of Johnson, who has been a “speaker” for just over a year.
“You can pull out all my nails, you can stick bamboo into them, you can start cutting off my fingers: I’m not going to vote for Mike Johnson”, declared Republican Thomas Massie, in an interview with the conservative channel OAN.
This election for Speaker of the House of Representatives was a test of Donald Trump’s influence in Congress, as the future President gave his support to Mike Johnson.
Wishing him “good luck” today in a message published on his social network, Truth Social, before the vote, Trump described the representative elected for the state of Louisiana as “a good and very capable man, who is not far from having 100% support”.
“A win for Mike today will be a huge win for the Republican Party,” Trump insisted.
After his victory, the President-elect of the United States congratulated Mike Johnson on his re-election as president of the House of Representatives, despite initial opposition from elements within his own political camp.
“Mike will be a great speaker, and our country will benefit from it. Americans have waited four years for common sense, strength and leadership. They will have them now, and America will be even greater than before!”, he declared Trump on his Truth Social digital platform.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
