What you need to know about the House speaker election

The 119th Congress will begin on Friday, ushering in a new era of Republican control in Washington that will start with a high-stakes leadership fight to pick the next House speaker.

The 119th Congress will begin on Friday, ushering in a new era of Republican control in Washington that will start with a high-stakes leadership fight to pick the next House speaker. Mike Johnson is vying to retain the gavel and has President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement, but he faces tough vote math with the narrowest House majority in nearly 100 years, leaving little room for error. Johnson can only afford a single GOP defection if every lawmaker shows up and votes, and one House Republican - Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky - has already said he won’t vote for him, while roughly a dozen more have not committed to supporting him. Looming over the race is the question of what happens if the House has not yet elected a speaker by Monday, January 6, the day lawmakers are supposed to count electoral votes and finalize the results of the presidential election – a scenario that would put Congress into unprecedented territory. To be elected speaker, a candidate must win a majority of votes out of all votes cast. If all 435 members of the House vote, then a majority is 218 votes. There is expected to be one vacancy when the House convenes for the vote. Former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has said he won’t take the seat he was elected to in the new Congress.