Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is wooing his sharpest critics in the House GOP ahead of his official election for Speaker on the House floor, working to eliminate opposition and secure the strongest leadership mandate possible in a razor-thin majority.
In the latest development, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — one of the leaders of an unsuccessful move to oust Johnson earlier this year — is no longer ruling out supporting Johnson for Speaker. The two chatted over the Thanksgiving break, and have been having conversations that appear to be leaving a positive impression on Massie.
“We’ve been talking,” Massie told The Hill when asked if he is still opposed to Johnson. “We talked last week.”
Massie cautioned that he is “not to the support levels yet.” But his openness to voting for Johnson is a major development, given his prior opposition. Earlier this year, Massie had said he would not vote for Johnson “come hell or high water.”
The Kentucky Republican’s softening on Johnson comes as the Speaker has also secured the backing of his most vocal former critic, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Greene, the main leader of the failed motion to vacate earlier this year, confirmed on Wednesday that she will vote for Johnson to be Speaker in the Jan. 3 floor vote.
“Nobody’s running against him,” Greene told The Hill.
Greene had first signaled openness to supporting Johnson after the November election resulted in a win for President-elect Trump and Republicans in both chambers of Congress.
After a “productive” private meeting between the two last month, which The Hill first reported, Greene is now set to chair a Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, to complement the Trump administration DOGE commission headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Johnson already won renomination for Speaker last month in a voice vote by House Republicans, with no member vocalizing opposition. The unanimous vote came after he struck a deal with hardline conservatives and anti-chaos Republicans on rules changes — which included raising the threshold to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. That caused hardliners to abandon a plan to force a recorded vote to display opposition to Johnson.
But despite the unanimous vote, questions remained about whether Johnson could seamlessly win election on the House floor, given the handful of detractors who left open the possibility of opposing him on the House floor.
Republicans are set to have one of the slimmest House majorities in history. On Jan. 3, when there will be 219 Republicans and 215 Democrats — with one vacancy for former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) seat — Johnson would only be able to afford to lose support from one House Republican and still win the Speakership, assuming every member is present and voting for a specific candidate. All Democrats are expected to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
There is little appetite among Republicans to show any fractures as the party is set to take trifecta control of government, in a boon for Johnson. Trump has also publicly supported the Speaker.
His position on more Ukraine funding could also help dissuade Republican defections, even though he was criticized by the “America First” crowd for helping usher though aid to Ukraine earlier this year. Johnson on Wednesday said that he will oppose a request from President Biden for an additional $24 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Still, there is the risk of hardline Republicans like Massie – who has a libertarian streak and frequently votes against his party – could cast protest votes that complicate or block Johnson’s path.
“I think there’s so much stuff up in the air, nobody’s going to know ‘till January 3,” Massie said.
The Speaker some funding hurdles to navigate before the end of the year that risk angering hardline conservatives. Government funding runs out on Dec. 20, and Johnson is working on a deal to continue funding until March.
Johnson is having to keep up the outreach. Earlier this week, he had a discussion with members of the House Freedom Caucus, the hardline conservative group, about disaster aid funding to address damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“The House has to go through really line by line, and assess those requests and make sure that they all are actually tied to disaster and not superfluous items and issues that are included. That’s what the discussion with Freedom Caucus was about,” Johnson said Wednesday.
The Freedom Caucus, however, came out with a public statement later that day opposing any “unpaid” disaster relief, increasing the likelihood that Johnson will have to rely on Democratic votes to push through and bill with the disaster relief.
Massie and Greene are not the only Johnson antagonists who have softened, though.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), who was one the 10 Republicans who joined Greene in voting against a motion to table her motion to vacate this year and has also criticized Johnson, told The Hill that he thinks he will support the Speaker on the House floor.
“I think as long as there’s no unforced errors, we should be smooth sailing,” Davidson said.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), another one of those 10, said Thursday that he would vote for Johnson for Speaker “if the vote were today,” but added that people “are curious how he’s going to handle the next two weeks” and issues with government funding.
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), another past public critic of Johnson, said he will vote for the Speaker, too.
“I’m with the majority of the majority,” Miller said, adding: “No one’s running against him.”
The once-routine election of the House Speaker on the opening day of the new Congress became a drawn-out saga in January 2023, when 20 Republicans withheld support for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for five days. It was the first time in a century that a Speaker vote took multiple ballots. And later in the year, eight Republicans joined with Democrats to force McCarthy out, with the party eventually settling on Johnson to replace him three weeks later.
Part of the conservative demands from that January 2023 fight consisted of representation for hardliners on key committees, such as the House Rules Committee. That resulted in Massie getting a spot on that panel, along with Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).
But Massie indicated that he is not necessarily looking to stay on the Rules panel, saying he was stretched thin with other committee work.
“I had too many credit hours last semester and I missed the drop date,” Massie joked.Johnson woos his sharpest critics in preparation for Speaker vote
