The new Congress begins with a contentious race for House Speaker as Republicans grapple with internal divisions. Mike Johnson faces potential opposition despite President Trump's endorsement, mirroring past struggles for GOP leadership.
Congress comes into session today and will kick-off the new session by electing leaders in the House and Senate. Republicans are taking the first steps Friday to usher in a new era of full GOP control in Washington as Congress comes into session. But the usually ceremonial process in the House is already bogged down in political infighting over who should be elected Speaker of the House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, is running for re-election with the backing of the majority of Republicans but a few holdouts could revive the chaotic leadership battles that dominated their party for the past several years. Republicans again have a razor thin majority in the House and Johnson needs near unanimity among GOP members to gain the gavel again. If all lawmakers are present, he can only afford to lose one vote. President-elect Trump endorsed Johnson earlier in the week, and posted on his social media channel hours before the vote, which Johnson re-shared. In the post Trump called Johnson'a fine man of great ability.'The drama on the first day of the new Congress echoed the dynamic two years ago when Kevin McCarthy faced opposition from a group of conservatives to be elected speaker. After failing to get the votes, he negotiated concessions with his critics, including changes to the House rules. It took four days and 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to be elected speaker. Nine months later McCarthy was ousted for working with Democrats to avoid a possible government shutdown. That set off several weeks of chaos when several top GOP leaders failed to secure enough support to get the gavel until Johnson, then a rank and file conservative member of the House Judiciary panel, was nominated with unanimous suppor
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