Mike Johnson hangs on, but his challenges are just beginning: from the political office

Welcome to the online version of From the political officean evening newsletter that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, we look at how Mike Johnson managed to survive a close re-election bid for Speaker of the House on the first day of the 119th Congress and the challenges that lie ahead. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker sits down with new Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.

Mike Johnson is re-elected Speaker of the House with Trump’s support, but his challenges have only just begun

By Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur, Kyle Stewart and Syedah Asghar

Mike Johnson was narrowly re-elected as House speaker on Friday, fending off a small right-wing rebellion that ultimately relented.

A trio of conservative rebels initially voted to block Johnson from being re-elected president, defying President-elect Donald Trump, who supported the Louisiana Republican, and threatening to paralyze the House.

They were among nine Republicans who publicly wavered on the president’s vote: two initially voted for other candidates before switching to Johnson, and six others refused to vote during the first roll call. These nine are notable in that the new GOP rules package, if passed, will require nine lawmakers to initiate a “motion to vacate” the president’s chair and impeach Johnson — up one member.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has been railing against Johnson for weeks, voted for Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. And Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., voted for Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, while Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, voted for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.

But that’s when Trump began to get involved, making several phone calls personally urging holdouts to rally behind Johnson to implement his agenda. Midway through his round of golf, Trump got on the line with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who passed the phone to Norman, his colleague from South Carolina, Mace said.

“He said, ‘Norman, we have the most opportunities we’ve ever had, three houses…the trifecta. You don’t have that opportunity,” Norman recalls. “And I said, ‘Mr. President, I agree with you, but I just hope Mike has the courage to succeed.

Later, Johnson huddled in the locker room right off the floor with Norman and Self, as well as key conservative members who voted for him — including House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., and former Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania.

Trump was once again put on the phone with the holdouts, Norman said. The president’s message to the group was “Unite!” » according to Johnson.

They appeared about 20 minutes later, and Self and Norman reversed their votes, both supporting the speaker.

That gave Johnson the 218 votes he needed to secure victory, with all 215 Democrats backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Learn more about Friday’s vote →

But for Johnson, holding the hammer was the easy part.

The House Republican majority is poised to shrink even further in the coming weeks, with Trump announcing he will recruit two House Republicans, Michael Waltz of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York, to serve in his administration. With Matt Gaetz’s resignation, their eventual departure would leave Republicans with a 217-215 majority, meaning they would have a zero-vote margin in the event of a defection in the crucial first months of Trump’s presidency .

And they have a long list of things to do: fund the government by March 14; adopt Trump’s agenda on immigration, energy and taxes; and extend the debt ceiling.

Even when the party returns to full strength, the House majority could struggle to pass party-line legislation if a handful of members get sick, have scheduling conflicts or experience weather delays preventing them from arrive in Washington in time for key votes.

Learn more about the tasks ahead of Johnson →

Welcome to the 119th Congress: Here is 11 basic legislators of the two parties that could play an outsized role in a closely divided House over the next two years.

John Thune says Johnson has a ‘really tough job’ to do with a slim Republican majority

By Alexandra Marquez

In the Senate, the new majority leader, John Thune, will have a little more room to maneuver with a majority of 53 votes to 47.

In an interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that took place as the House was choosing a speaker, Thune said Johnson would have “a really, really tough job” navigating a narrow House majority. Bedroom.

“I think he’s been attentive to his membership, but he has a lot of people going in different directions,” Thune said. “I mean, as you know, with such a narrow margin, any member of the House of Representatives can have a huge impact.”

Thune said he and Johnson could have a “strong working relationship,” even though the two men had never worked closely together before.

Thune also noted that he expects Senate and Republican Party leaders to work closely and with Trump to achieve their policy goals.

“I think they’re going to have to be, and we’re going to have to be as a Senate and with the White House working as a close team, if we’re going to implement an agenda that we want to accomplish for the American people.” Thune said.

Read more →

Congress, once again, is aging

By Joe Murphy

With an average member age of 58.9, the 119th Congress is the third oldest since 1789, according to an NBC News analysis of members of Congress and date of birth data.

We found that while the Senate was getting a little younger, the House was aging and baby boomers were losing seats to Gen X and millennials.

Analysis of data from Legistorm, the Almanac of American Politics and the @unitedstates project, a group that tracks congressional news, calculates the age of each session of Congress as of the first day of the session, with members who took the oath. day. (For example, Sen.-elect Jim Justice, R-W.Va., 73, who will fill Joe Manchin’s Senate seat on Jan. 13, was not included because Justice will not be a member of the body on Jan. 3.)

The Senate’s average age, 63.8, is still several years higher than the House’s, at 57.7.