Johnson, of Louisiana, has been working diligently to prevent defeat, spending New Year’s Day at Mar-a-Lago as he positions himself alongside Trump. The speaker often portrays himself as the “quarterback” who will be executing the political plays called by the “coach,” the president-elect.

The speaker election was on track to get deadlocked after a small handful of House Republicans rebelled against Johnson's candidacy, until two holdouts flipped their votes in the final hour