Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“In the end, Mike Johnson was elected Speaker on the first ballot. But this requires a rather loose definition of the word ‘first.’ After the full roll was taken, Johnson had exactly nine holdouts: three who voted for other members for Speaker, and six who withheld their vote entirely. … One by one, the six who didn’t vote decided to go to Johnson, leaving three final holdouts: Reps. Tom Massie (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Keith Self (R-TX). Massie was a hard no … Johnson took Norman and Self into a back room off the floor and emerged a few minutes later. The two congressmen then went to the well of the House and changed their votes to Johnson, giving him a 218-215 victory over Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.” (01/03/25)
https://prospect.org/politics/2025-01-03-johnson-wins-speaker-battle-war-goes-on/