Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we dive into how Mike Johnson managed to survive a tight re-election bid for House speaker on the first day of the 119th Congress and the challenges that await him. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker” sits down with the new majority leader in the Senate, John Thune.
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Mike Johnson is re-elected as House speaker with a boost from Trump, but his challenges are only beginning
By Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur, Kyle Stewart and Syedah Asghar
Mike Johnson was narrowly re-elected as speaker of the House on Friday, beating back a tiny right-wing rebellion that ultimately caved.
A trio of conservative rebels initially voted to block Johnson from being re-elected speaker, defying President-elect Donald Trump, who backed the Louisiana Republican, and threatening to paralyze the House.
They were among nine Republicans who publicly hesitated during the speaker’s vote — two initially voted for other candidates before flipping for Johnson, and six more withheld their votes during the first roll call. Those nine are notable as the GOP’s new rules package, if adopted, will require nine lawmakers to trigger a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair and remove Johnson — up from one member.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has railed for weeks against Johnson, cast his vote 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 getting involved, making multiple phone calls personally urging the holdouts to rally behind Johnson to enact his agenda. In the middle of his golf game, Trump got on the line with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace who passed the phone to Norman, her South Carolina colleague, the latter said.
“He said, ‘Norman, we’ve got the most opportunity we’ve ever had, three houses … the trifecta. You don’t get that opportunity,’” Norman recalled. “And I said, ‘Mr. President, I agree with you but I’m just hoping Mike has got the oomph to pull it off.’”
Later, Johnson huddled in the cloakroom just 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 past Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa.
Trump again was put on the phone with the holdouts, Norman said. The president’s message to the group was “Get united!” according to Johnson.
They emerged roughly 20 minutes later, and Self and Norman switched their votes, both backing 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.
But for Johnson, holding the gavel was the easy part.
The House GOP majority is poised to shrink even further in the coming weeks, with Trump announcing he’ll pluck 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 will leave Republicans with a 217-215 majority, meaning they will have a zero-vote margin for defection in the crucial early months of Trump’s presidency.
And they have a long to-do list: fund the government by March 14; pass 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 have trouble passing party-line legislation if a handful of members fall ill, have scheduling conflicts or experience weather delays preventing them from getting to Washington in time for key votes.
Read more on the tasks awaiting Johnson →
Welcome to the 119th Congress: Here are 11 rank-and-file lawmakers from both parties who could play an outsize role in the narrowly divided House over the next two years.
John Thune says Johnson has a ‘really tough job’ ahead with a thin GOP majority
By Alexandra Marquez
Over in the Senate, the new majority leader, John Thune, will have a bit more breathing room with a 53-47 majority.
In an interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that took place as the House was selecting a speaker, Thune said Johnson will have “a really, really tough job,” navigating a narrow House majority.
“I think he has been responsive to his members, but he’s got a lot of folks that are headed in different directions,” Thune said. “I mean, as you know, that with a narrow margin like that, any individual member of the House of Representatives can have a huge impact.”
Thune said that he and Johnson could have a “strong working relationship,” even though the two men haven’t worked closely before.
Thune also noted that he expects Senate and House GOP leaders to work closely together and with Trump to succeed on their policy goals.
“I do think that they will need to be, and we will need to be as a Senate and with the White House working closely as a team, if we’re going to get an agenda done that we want to accomplish for the American people,” Thune said.
Congress, once again, is getting older
By Joe Murphy
With an average member age of 58.9 years old, the 119th Congress is the third oldest since 1789, according to an NBC News analysis of congressional membership and birth-date data.
We found that while the Senate got a little younger, the House aged, and that baby boomers are losing seats to Generation X and millennials.
The analysis of data from Legistorm, the Almanac of American Politics and the @unitedstates project, a group that tracks congressional information, calculates the age of each session of Congress as of the first day of the session, with the members who were sworn in that day. (For instance 73-year-old Sen.-elect Jim Justice, R-W.Va., who will take 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 average age of the Senate, 63.8 years, is still years older than that of the House, at 57.7 years.
Many people look forward to retirement at 65. But in the Senate, the median age is nearly 65, with 49 members at least that old.
While a majority of the Senate is still from the baby boom generation, Gen X membership in the House now exceeds that of boomers for the first time: More than 180 representatives are from Gen X, and 170 are boomers.
That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]
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