With President-elect Donald Trump poised to return to the White House flanked by a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, House representatives and senators have chosen their leaders and committed to Trump’s agenda.
According to The Hill, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was nominated to continue leading House Republicans. He ran unopposed and unanimously won a voice vote on Wednesday. House Freedom Caucus members were reportedly considering running one of their own against Johnson and had also pushed for a recorded vote, in order to put their names on record opposing Johnson’s speakership as a means of protesting some of the funding bills he has supported or allowed. According to Fox News’s senior congressional reporter Chad Pergram, Johnson made time to meet and speak with Freedom Caucus members prior to the vote, in order to amicably resolve issues and secure their support. Johnson will now face a full House vote, expected to be in early January.
Trump met with House Republicans before the vote and openly endorsed Johnson, according to reports. “Mike Johnson, tremendous guy. I’m with him all the way!” the president-elect is reported to have said. According to Politico writer Olivia Beavers, Trump also told Republicans, “Get it all done. Unify.” According to Decision Desk HQ, Republicans have achieved a narrow majority in the House with 219 seats to the Democrats’ 212, with a handful of races yet to be called.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) also retained their positions. Since Trump named Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to be his ambassador to the United Nations, her position as the chair of the House GOP Conference also had to be filled. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) ran against Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), with McClain winning the position by 146 votes to 67. In 2022, Cammack and a coalition of 46 other House Republicans voted for the controversial Respect for Marriage Act, which codified same-sex marriage into federal law. In a social media dispute, Cammack referred to her fellow Republicans who voted against the legislation as “horribly racist,” accusing them of wanting to outlaw interracial marriages.
McClain took to X to celebrate her victory, posting, “I am honored to be chosen by my colleagues to serve as the Republican Conference Chairwoman and I thank my constituents in MI-09 for their continued support.” She added that she is “excited” to work with Trump and Johnson “to pass the America First agenda.” Cammack, meanwhile, acknowledged her defeat and posted, “I’m convinced our Conference will do amazing work over the next two years and I look forward to working alongside my colleagues and newly elected Chairwoman Lisa McClain. It’s time to get to work.”
The U.S. Senate saw a contentious three-way race on Wednesday for Majority Leader, with Vice President-elect and current Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and a coalition of Trump allies backing Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for the role over either John Cornyn (R-Texas) or John Thune (R-S.D.). Despite a grassroots push to promote his candidacy for Majority Leader, Scott was eliminated on the first ballot, scoring 13 votes against Cornyn’s 15 and Thune’s 24, suggesting that the Senate still largely remains resistant to outside pressure. On the second ballot, Thune emerged victorious, with 29 votes to Cornyn’s 24.
While Thune has been criticized as an ally of his predecessor, outgoing Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and not a friend of Trump’s, newly-elected Senate Republican Conference vice chair James Lankford (R-Okla.) reiterated on Wednesday night’s episode of “Washington Watch” that Thune actually voted in line with Trump over 90% of the time during Trump’s first term. “So all of this spin out there saying Thune is secretly or openly opposed to President Trump is not true. In fact, based on how he voted, that definitely wasn’t true,” Lankford said. He added, “And President Trump never expressed an opinion on the three of them on which one he would prefer.” The senator also noted that all three candidates for Majority Leader were largely indistinguishable on matters of ideology; the key differences Republican senators considered were matters of process and communication.
On Sunday, ahead of the conference election, Trump called on the eventual Majority Leader to “agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more.” He added, “We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”
For his part, Thune announced in a statement after being elected to Majority Leader, “This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.” He also shared that he spoke to Trump over the phone following Wednesday’s conference elections and is “excited and ready to get to work implementing President Trump’s agenda on behalf of the American people.” In a brief press conference, Thune named ensuring border security, “streamlining” federal bureaucracy, and increasing U.S. energy production and independence as top Republican priorities.
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) was also elected to be Senate Majority Whip, running unopposed for the position after having served for six years as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. Democrats are expected to host their party leadership elections next week.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.