Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) will get to maintain the massive 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 in a position to garner the minimal 218 votes wanted to win the job within the first spherical of voting, although he needed to persuade two of his fellow Republicans – Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) – who initially voted for different candidates to vary their votes to him.
With Republicans solely having a razor-thin margin of management of the House, Johnson might solely afford to lose one vote – which he did, to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky). Massie’s “no” vote got here as no shock; he beforehand informed former Rep. Matt Gaetz that he would actually stand up to torture earlier than voting for Johnson. As an alternative, Massie voted for Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the Majority Whip and a longtime supporter of the crypto business. Emmer voted for Johnson.
Friday’s voting course of – the primary order of enterprise firstly of the 119th Congress – took solely 2.5 hours in whole, a a lot swifter and extra streamlined course of than the earlier election in Oct. 2023 that first noticed Johnson elected.
Although Johnson has not been very outspoken about crypto points, he’s extensively thought-about to be a pal to the business. He beforehand voted for the Monetary Innovation and Expertise for the twenty first Century Act (extra generally often known as FIT21) and an anti-central financial institution digital foreign money (CBDC) invoice.
Johnson’s re-election — and Emmer’s continued place as Majority Whip – means crypto-friendly members of Congress are probably well-positioned to push crypto laws in 2025.
