Designated Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was re-elected to lead the House of Representatives on Friday despite losing one fellow Republican in the final vote.
Ultimately, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote against Johnson, but things could have been worse for the speaker of the House of Representatives. Reps. Keith Self, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., initially voted against Johnson but changed their votes to support him.
Norman told Fox News that he changed his vote after receiving some assurances from Johnson.
“I said, ‘Mike, are you going to give us specific examples of fighting for the things we mentioned? Will you give us your word?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So I said, ‘Okay, we’ll take your word for it.’ That’s why I changed my vote,” Norman explained Friday on “The story.”
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Johnson’s future seemed uncertain at one point Friday afternoon Norman, Massie and Self voted for someone other than him as speaker, seemingly putting the gavel out of reach.
Johnson then huddled behind closed doors with Self, Norman and other lawmakers before the vote ended. Both emerged later and exchanged votes to support Johnson.
Norman shared that his initial opposition stemmed from concerns about whether Johnson had the “willingness to fight for” Trump’s agenda.”
“We met with Speaker Johnson for quite some time yesterday, and I didn’t get the sense that the charisma or willingness to fight for Trump’s agenda was there,” he said on “The Story.”
Norman supported his initial decision to vote against Johnson because that was his reasoning “the only way I could make my voice heard.”
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Ultimately, the Louisiana Republican won along party lines in the first round of voting, a stark contrast to his predecessor Kevin McCarthy’s drawn-out 15-round battle in 2023.
Johnson’s reelection victory comes despite saber-rattling from some conservatives who threatened to withhold Johnson’s support in protest over his handling of government funding and several other issues during the 118th Congress.
“I think he now understands that there are no more suspension votes, where we allow more Democratic votes than Republicans — that’s what’s destroying the country,” Norman said. “If we continue to do the same thing over and over again as we have done over the past fourteen months, we will end up in the same position. I’m just not willing to go along with that, and I’m not.”
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“Mike has a great opportunity to show the American people that he’s not just going to say it, he’s going to fight it. Trump supports himAnd that’s all for the best.”
Elizabeth Elkind of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
