US: Johnson Falls Short Of Votes Required To Win First Speaker Ballot

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is short of the votes required for re-election as Speaker of the House of Representatives after three conservative Republican House reps voted against his candidacy in an ongoing roll call to open the 119th Congress. Assuming the handful of conservatives who declined to participate in the roll call cast their vote at the end of the ballot, the House will either engage immediately in another round of voting or recess temporarily.

• Although the election is set to go to multiple ballots, as it did during two speaker elections in 2023, the opposition to Johnson's candidacy appears less robust than the opposition to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R) candidacy. Lawmakers will likely remain in Washington throughout the weekend, if the election isn't settled today, to ensure that a speaker in in place on January 6 to facilitate the certification of the presidential election result.
• Shortly before the vote, Johnson published a statement on X promising, "an end to the status quo, and a return to fiscal sanity," noting that the national debt "is a grave threat to America’s economic and national security..."
• The 'commitments' appear designed to address concerns raised by conservative lawmakers who threatened to withhold their vote from Johnson.
• Johnson said, if re-elected Speaker, he would commit to, "Creat[ing] a working group comprised of independent experts – not corrupted by lobbyists and special interests – to work with [Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency DOGE] and our committees on implementing recommended government and spending reforms to protect the American taxpayer," and "Task that working group with reviewing existing audits of federal agencies and entities created by Congress – and issuing a report to my office for public release."