Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) will get to keep the big gavel after his fellow Republicans voted to re-elect him House Speaker on Friday afternoon.
Johnson, who has been publicly backed by President-elect Donald Trump, was able to garner the minimum 218 votes needed to win the job in the first round of voting, though he had to persuade two of his fellow Republicans – Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) – who initially voted for other candidates to change their votes to him.
With Republicans only having a razor-thin margin of control of the House, Johnson could only afford to lose one vote – which he did, to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky). Massie’s “no” vote came as no surprise; he previously told former Rep. Matt Gaetz that he would literally withstand torture before voting for Johnson. Instead, Massie voted for Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the Majority Whip and a longtime supporter of the crypto industry. Emmer voted for Johnson.
Friday’s voting process – the first order of business at the start of the 119th Congress – took only 2.5 hours in total, a much swifter and more streamlined process than the previous election in Oct. 2023 that first saw Johnson elected.
Though Johnson has not been very outspoken about crypto issues, he is widely considered to be a friend to the industry. He previously voted for the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (more commonly known as FIT21) and an anti-central bank digital currency (CBDC) bill.
Johnson’s re-election — and Emmer’s continued position as Majority Whip – means crypto-friendly members of Congress are likely well-positioned to push crypto legislation in 2025.
