Despite those efforts, no lawmaker publicly challenged Johnson for the position, allowing him to run unopposed. Any opposition was also quelled after President-elect Donald Trump visited with the House GOP on Thursday and endorsed Johnson for another term, two lawmakers inside the meeting told the Washington Examiner. 

Johnson won the nomination through a unanimous consent voice vote and ran unopposed.

However, he will not secure the position until Jan. 3, when the entire House will hold its speaker election. That election will come when Republicans will once again be managing a slim majority, so Johnson will need to keep his conference in line to avoid a similar fate to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who didn’t secure the gavel until his 15th round of voting and after making several concessions to those in his right flank. 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) told pool reporters that while no one in the room objected to Johnson during the vote for speaker, his potential detractors see this closed-door election as a soft vote for him, with real negotiations to take place between now and Jan. 3.

The Freedom Caucus, the hard-line conservative caucus that has frustrated a litany of House speakers, met with Johnson ahead of leadership elections. There are negotiations underway to ensure Johnson wins on the House floor with his razor-thin majority. One of the discussions underway is raising the level to nine for the motion to vacate the speaker, which currently allows just one member to force a leadership vote.

House Republicans also elected their slate of top GOP leaders in the lower chamber for the next Congress. Both House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) were reelected to their positions in a unanimous voice vote, sources in the room told the Washington Examiner.

This story is developing and will be updated.