Summary of the day
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Republican Mike Johnson was reelected speaker on the first ballot. Johnson won the bare minimum support that he needed, 218 votes, to capture the gavel again. The Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, won all 215 votes of his caucus.
Johnson, accepting the gavel, asked for a moment of silence in the House in honor of the victims of the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans. He said Congress would act quickly to defend the nation’s borders, restore America’s energy dominance by ending “ridiculous” electric vehicle mandates, fight inflation, and “drastically” cut back the size and scope of government.
Two House Republicans who initially voted against Johnson flipped to supporting him. The two members, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas, changed their votes after conferring with the speaker off the House floor. Donald Trump spoke to both Norman and Self, according to multiple reports. The vote remained open for an unusually long time as Johnson worked to win enough support for a victory.
One House Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, still voted against Johnson. Massie instead cast a ballot for Tom Emmer, the House Republican whip. Because of House Republicans’ narrow majority, one more defection would have sunk Johnson’s speakership bid.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, pledged that Democrats would work with Republicans to achieve bipartisan cooperation whenever possible.
“We need to build an affordable economy for hard-working American taxpayers. Now is the time for us to come together and finally lower the high cost of living in the United States of America once and for all,” Jeffries said in his remarks after the speakership election.
“And we will work with anyone of any party to get that done. We will work with anyone to secure our border, and we will work with anyone to fix our broken immigration system in a comprehensive and bipartisan manner.”
Jeffries went on to deliver a thorough and impassioned defense of benefits programs like Social Security and Medicare, preemptively criticizing Republicans who would call for any cuts to the programs.
