Johnson says Republicans ‘cannot afford any palace drama’ ahead of speaker vote

House Speaker Mike Johnson predicts he’ll survive a Friday vote to hold onto the top leadership role, despite GOP critics who have not committed to supporting him. 

“We’re going to get this done,” the Louisiana Republican said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” 

The House floor election for speaker is the first vote that the 119th Congress will take other than a traditional quorum call to gather members; it occurs before they’re officially sworn into office.

Mr. Johnson cannot afford more than one or two GOP defections in the speaker vote, depending on how many members show up.

Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, has already said he won’t vote for Mr. Johnson, while several other Republicans remain undecided. 

“We cannot afford any palace drama here,” Mr. Johnson said. “We have got to get the Congress started, which begins tomorrow, and we have to get immediately to work. We have to certify the election of President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 6, on Monday. And we have many important things pressing on us right now, so there’s no time to waste. We have to stay unified.”

No House business can be conducted until a speaker is elected, so a prolonged fight could delay certification of Mr. Trump’s electoral victory and efforts to pass bills reflecting his agenda. Mr. Johnson and his allies have argued that should be reason enough to prevent any drama on the floor.

House Republicans spent four days trying to elect a speaker at the start of the 118th Congress in 2023 amid opposition to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid.

Mr. McCarthy negotiated a deal with his critics to rein in spending and hold votes on conservative priorities before finally earning enough votes to be elected speaker on the 15th ballot. But nine months later, eight rogue Republicans teamed up with all Democrats to oust him from the speakership. 

Mr. Johnson emerged as the consensus speaker candidate after weeks of internal GOP deliberations following Mr. McCarthy’s ouster and was elected with unanimous GOP support. But he’s lost the confidence of some Republicans since then. Even his allies acknowledge it may take multiple ballots for him to win reelection as speaker. 

“I don’t know if he has the votes right now, but I do believe that he will have the votes. And I’m not sure that it will be on the first round, but I do think that by tomorrow we will have a speaker, and that speaker will be Mike Johnson,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, New York Republican, said Thursday on CNN.

Mr. Johnson met Thursday with more than a half dozen of his holdouts, but they did not offer any public commitments of support afterward. They are expected to meet again Friday before the vote.

“I think we get it done on the first round,” Mr. Johnson said in a Fox Business interview right after the meeting. “Certainly hopeful for that because, as we noted, we’ve got to stick together.”

Mr. Trump has endorsed Mr. Johnson to remain speaker. The president-elect told reporters at his New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago that he expects Republicans will vote to retain him.

“He’s the one that can win right now,” Mr. Trump said. “People like him. Almost everybody likes him. Others are very good too, but they have 30 or 40 people that don’t like them, so that’s pretty tough.”

Mr. Trump said he would call members on Mr. Johnson’s behalf “if necessary.”

“But I think really we’re going to have a great time. We’re going to get a successful vote,” he said. “He’s a good man. He’s a wonderful person, and that’s what you need.”

Mr. Johnson met with Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday to discuss legislative strategy before he returned to Washington. He said Mr. Trump asked him who he needed to call to help him win the speaker election.

“I don’t think he’s calling this afternoon, because I haven’t identified anybody that he needs to lean on,” Mr. Johnson said on Fox Business. “My conversations with my colleagues have gone great.”

Mr. Trump reportedly did call at least one holdout, Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, according to Punchbowl News. Mr. Roy’s office declined to comment.

Most of Mr. Johnson’s critics said they’re disappointed in him for cutting deals with Democrats to send billions to Ukraine and to continue high levels of government spending — with Democrats providing more votes than Republicans to pass those measures. 

“The reason I am still undecided on the Speaker vote (as opposed to hard no) is it’s not ALL the fault of @SpeakerJohnson & my desire is to give him grace & @realDonaldTrump room to deliver on a strong agenda for which we were elected,” Mr. Roy, posted Wednesday on X. “But something MUST change.”

• Alex Miller contributed to this report.