Will Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) retain his post? Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) urged his fellow Republicans to vote for it in an appearance on Fox and Friends ahead of the vote, saying, "This is bigger than all of us." He also emphasized the importance of pursuing President-elect Donald Trump's agenda upon his inauguration.
Rep. Gimenez added that he hoped Speaker Johnson would win on the first round of voting even in the face of seven uncommitted Republicans, as noted by host Brian Kilmeade.
However, Rep. Gimenez clarified that "outside of [Representative Thomas] Massie (R-KY), I think nobody else is a hard 'no,' and so they have issues that they need to work out with the Speaker. Look, this is bigger than all of us: We have an agenda that we need to move forward, a very aggressive agenda that the Trump Administration wants to pursue. None of that can happen until we have a Speaker. We need to unite and get behind Mike Johnson and get to work for America."
Kilmeade also pointed out that House Republicans are seeking to implement a new rule for vacating a Speaker by requiring the Congressman filing the motion to vacate have eight cosponsors from the majority party, which Democrats, led by Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) said will "shield the Speaker from accountability to the entire chamber."
Rep. Gimenez, however, expressed a favorable opinion of the proposed rule, even saying, "For me, it does not go far enough" because "we cannot have the chaos that we had in this particular Congress," referencing the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in 2023 and the messy efforts to elect Johnson.
"This is about America, saving America, and we need to move forward. We need to unite as a party, and we need to move the Trump agenda," the Florida Congressman continued.
After all, Gimenez suggested Massie's dissatisfaction with Johnson stemmed from the need for Democratic votes to move legislation forward. Still, with a Republican majority in the House and Senate and a Republican president, "we do not need a Democrat at all," and "nothing is stopping us from getting this done except ourselves. So we need to put all of this behind us, the bickering and any issues, put it behind us because America is expecting us to deliver, and we need to deliver."
Ahead of the vote, President-elect Trump reaffirmed his support for Johnson in a Truth Social post, saying, "Good luck today for Speaker Mike Johnson, a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support. A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party and yet another acknowledgment of our 129-year most consequential Presidential Election!! – A BIG AFFIRMATION, INDEED. MAGA!"
