Maine’s two Democratic representatives voted Friday against reelecting House Speaker Mike Johnson, who eventually won over enough Republicans to continue in his role on the same day the 119th Congress was sworn in.
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana who became speaker in 2023, was initially facing pushback Friday from hardline members of his caucus while having support from President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20 with the GOP holding a narrow 219-215 majority in the House and a 53-47 edge in the Senate.
U.S. Reps. Jared Golden, a centrist representing Maine’s rural 2nd District, and Chellie Pingree, a progressive representing the southern 1st District, joined their fellow Democrats in backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, for speaker.
Johnson won reelection in a 218-215 vote, with U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas the lone Republicans to initially oppose Johnson before Norman and Self changed their votes to support Johnson on the first ballot.
The largely ceremonial day for newly elected lawmakers looked ahead of time like it could evolve into a contentious vote for House speaker, a powerful role required by the Constitution that is second, behind vice president, in the line of succession to the president. The Senate has already elected leaders — Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as the Republican majority leader and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York for the Democratic minority.
It took Republicans nearly a week and 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, as speaker in 2023, a spectacle unseen in modern times. Johnson took over after McCarthy was later dumped by his party in a historic first.
Johnson warned ahead of the vote of a “constitutional crisis” without a House speaker heading into Monday, when Congress by law must count the electoral votes for president. Johnson worked diligently before Friday to prevent defeat, spending New Year’s Day at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he positions himself alongside the president-elect.
“We don’t have time for drama,” Johnson said Friday as he walked into the Capitol, adding the speaker election was “not just about one person but about moving forward with the America First agenda.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
