Speaker Mike Johnson Keeps His Gavel, After Two Flipped GOP Votes

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The House GOP avoids an embarrassing crackup, after two Republicans who initially opposed Speaker Mike Johnson switch their votes to him at the last minute. But the leaders of the Freedom Caucus post a letter afterward with a list of demands, suggesting that Republican disunity could return as soon as the House tries to pass a significant bill on spending or the debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This Sunday, old rivals go head to head as Liverpool take on Manchester United at Anfield.
0:07.0	Can you believe it?
0:09.0	And you can stream it live on Sky Sports, available with no contract on now.
0:15.0	Absolutely brilliant.
0:16.0	Stream Liverpool versus Manchester United, live this Sunday from 4.30 p.m. head to nowTV.com.
0:25.8	18 plus sky sports content streamed via internet.
0:28.7	Full turns apply.
0:32.5	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.
0:40.2	House Speaker Mike Johnson wins his gableback on the first ballot after two Republican holdouts change their votes to him
0:46.3	at the last second. Is this an end to the GOP disarray in the House or merely a preload to it?
0:53.6	Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.
0:56.9	We're joined today by my colleagues, columnist Bill McGern, and editorial board member Manet Uquay Barua.
1:03.0	It was a drama-filled Friday in the House of Representatives, though a shorter one than many observers
1:08.6	were expecting with Speaker Mike Johnson snatching victory from
1:12.3	the jaws of defeat on the first ballot. The initial vote for the Speaker of the House gave him
1:17.8	216 just shy of the 218 needed for a majority. The C-SPAN feed I was watching announced that
1:27.0	they were going to a second vote in the
1:28.8	House, but not clear where Republican dissenters would go from there. Recall that Speaker Kevin
1:34.3	McCarthy, two years ago, needed 15 ballots to get over that majority threshold. But then at the last
1:41.8	second, Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith's
1:46.6	self of Texas, who had initially voted for somebody other than Mike Johnson, flipped their
1:51.3	votes to him, giving Johnson a first ballot victory. Let's listen to a clip of Speaker Mike Johnson.
	...

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