At end of long social media post, Donald Trump endorses Mike Johnson as House Speaker, despite government funding turmoil

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — At the end of a long social media post mostly hovering around his opinions on the election, President-elect Donald Trump on Monday endorsed House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The Louisiana Republican is preparing for what is expected to be another contentious speakership race this week. Two years ago, the GOP-led House of Representatives voted an near-unprecedented 15 times before electing Kevin McCarthy the Speaker position, before then voting him out. Only four other times in US History did it take more votes. All four of those times came in the 1800s.

Trump said on his social media platform that Johnson “is a good, hard working, religious man” and said he “will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN.”

“Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement,” he wrote.

Johnson thanked Trump for the endorsement and added, “The American people demand and deserve that we waste no time. Let’s get to work!”

The signal of support from Trump comes despite his frustration with the deal Johnson pushed through the House days before Christmas to again partially fund the government for a few months. That bill that failed to achieve Trump’s central goal of raising the debt limit.

But other Republicans have been less forgiving. Far-right criticism over the spending ordeal has left Johnson’s continued leadership of the incoming GOP majority once again in jeopardy. Though a deal was reached, averting a holiday shutdown, Johnson had to rely on Democrats to keep the government running, highlighting the limits of his influence and exposing cracks in his party’s support.

The speaker’s first two funding plans collapsed as Trump, who does not take the oath of office until Jan. 20, interceded with calls to suspend or lift the government debt ceiling.

Johnson, who has worked hard to stay close to Trump over the last several months, convinced the president-elect that he would meet his demands to raise the debt limit in 2025.

Trump had remained quiet about Johnson’s fate before a Jan. 3 leadership vote for over a week, even as some Republicans signaled that they may not support Johnson for the role.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, one of the Republicans who opposed Kevin McCarthy’s initial bid for the speakership, said in a statement Monday that “our next speaker must show courageous leadership to get our country back on track.”

The Indiana lawmaker went on to make a series of demands for the next leader of the GOP majority, which included major spending reform. Rep. Andy Harris, who is the chair of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, had also indicated that Johnson’s future as speaker is not guaranteed before the holidays.

In a Dec. 20 post on X, Harris said that Republicans have not done enough to bring down “spending, deficits and inflation” since Trump’s electoral victory in November.

Because of this, Harris wrote, “I am now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress.”

Only four times in US history did electing a House Speaker take longer than it did with McCarthy, according to Town and Country.

• 4. John W. Taylor, the Speaker of the 16th Congress (1819–1821), needed 22 ballots. (His election was actually not at the start of a session; rather, the election was held after Henry Clay resigned as Speaker).
• 3. William Pennington, the Speaker of the 36th Congress (1859—1861), needed 44 ballots
• 2. Howell Cobb, the Speaker of the 31st Congress (1849—1851), needed 63 ballots
• 1. Nathaniel Prentice Banks, the Speaker of the 34th Congress (1855—1857), needed 133 ballots. Per the Office of the Historian, Banks’s election was due to conflict over “slavery and a rising anti-immigrant mood in the nation,” which “contributed to a poisoned and deteriorating political climate.” In that election, 21 representatives vied for the speakership —it took two months for Banks to triumph.