First Ballot—Finally
It looked like history was going to repeat itself Friday afternoon as the U.S. House began the new Congress with a traditional and required first item of business: electing a Speaker of the House.
Two years ago, Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker—but only after 15 rounds over four days. That did not turn out well later in the year, as he was tossed from the chair in less than nine months.
As Democrats all voted as a bloc for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, three Republicans voted for someone other than Republican Mike Johnson, who ultimately won the game of “hot potato” after McCarthy was tossed. That left Johnson a scant one vote ahead of Jeffries, with neither securing a majority. But after a flurry of activity—members huddling on the floor, text messages flying—the vote was left open as Johnson met in a room off the House floor with two of the three holdouts.
No idea of what was said, or who might have called in…no idea of what those two members’ concerns were or what they were promised…but they each made their way to the well of the chamber, changed their votes to support Johnson, and the majority was obtained by the absolute barest of margins.
So a bit of a scare…but ultimately cooler heads prevailed in favor of the opportunity to actually govern and live up to promises made to the American people. No question that Speaker Johnson will continuously be looking over his shoulder, should another cluster of members of his own party try to oust him. But strictly from a “do the people’s business” standpoint, the brief drama will have no lasting impact and the signal sent that egos were ultimately checked at the door should give those who voted for change in Washington a little hope as the big change happens two weeks from today.
