Jan. 3 (UPI) — The U.S. House will elect a speaker to begin the 119th Congress on Friday and Rep. Mike Johnson has no margin for error if he is going to retain the gavel.
Johnson, R-La., can only afford to lose one Republican vote and still receive the 218 votes needed to be named speaker of the House again, that is if all members vote. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he will not give Johnson his vote. If he does as he says, Johnson cannot lose the support of any more Republicans.
The House came into session at 11 a.m. EST and went into recess about three minutes later.
“Oh no. You can pull all my fingernails out, you can shove bamboo up in them, you can start cutting off my fingers,” Massie said in an interview on Thursday. “I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow and you can take that to the bank.”
Massie has expressed concern that Republicans will not be able to exercise their narrow majority and carry out the agenda of President-elect Donald Trump if Johnson is the speaker. Trump has endorsed Johnson.
“Good luck today for Speaker Mike Johnson, a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support,” Trump posted on social media Friday. “A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!”
Several Republicans, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., have said their support for Johnson is contingent on him naming Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, as chair of the House Rules Committee.
The House Rules Committee is an influential committee that has the authority to rewrite bills and determine how bills are presented.
Roy notably drew the criticism of Trump over his opposition to the version of the stopgap government funding bill Trump supported last month.
Republicans hold 219 seats in the House to Democrats 215. The number of votes required to be confirmed as speaker can change if some members do not vote or vote “present.”
Johnson became speaker in October 2023 following a drawn out process to replace Kevin McCarthy, the former Republican representative from California. After rounds of closed door votes and multiple frontrunners, all 220 Republicans voted for Johnson.
