Mike Johnson remains on the wire despite Donald Trump's support: the representatives who could topple his nomination

Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement" of Mike Johnson's continued tenure as speaker of the House of Representatives may not be enough for the incumbent to keep the gavel. With the margin of one conservative representative voting no occupied by Thomas Massie, any further "no" votes from his party's ranks would knock his candidacy down on the first ballots held on Jan. 3. The problem is that there are at least a dozen GOP lawmakers - some highly critical of him - who have expressed doubts publicly about the direction of his vote.

First on the list of doubters is undoubtedly Chip Roy. The Texan representative has become a real headache for Johnson, whom he has harshly criticized -and voted against his proposals- every time he has had to vote to avoid a government shutdown. As if that were not enough, Roy has had some clashes with Trump since he announced his support for Ron DeSantis in the Republican primaries. For the moment, however, he claims that he remains "undecided" on the direction of his suffrage, while he laid out some conditions on his X account:

Meetings with critics on Capitol Hill

Tim Burchett has also publicly expressed his reservations, stating that he would speak personally with Johnson to share his thoughts. Additionally, Johnson has met in Congress with several members of the Freedom Caucus, the most vocal critics of his leadership, who previously rejected the Speaker's continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown despite Donald Trump's support.

Thus, the always unpredictable Victoria Sparz - who has forwarded a series of conditions to Johnson to vote for him -, Freedom Caucus chairman Andy Harris, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry and Ralph Norman passed through Johnson's office. Also Eli Crane, Andy Ogles and Michael Cloud have had conversations with the speaker about the direction of his vote.

Johnson, optimistic about his re-election

Nevertheless, Mike Johnson was optimistic about his chances, assuring on Fox News that he will be elected in the first round to start working for the change Trump will bring in his second term.

"We're going to get it done. We're shifting to a new paradigm. We have a unified government starting tomorrow. We have the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. A totally different situation than we've had for the last 14 months since I've been Speaker. So we're excited about delivering on the "America First" agenda. It starts on day one, and it all starts right here tomorrow."