By Lauren Fox, Clare Foran, Sarah Ferris and Haley Talbot

Washington (CNN) — House Speaker Mike Johnson faces a tough fight to retain the gavel even after an endorsement from Donald Trump, a test of the president-elect’s influence over his party amid the limits of an extraordinarily narrow majority.

Trump’s endorsement could help Johnson shore up support, especially after the speaker navigated a chaotic government funding fight earlier this month that drew the ire of his right flank. But with a historically small majority in the new Congress, Johnson can afford only a single Republican defection when the House picks a new speaker on Friday if every member votes.

And one House Republican – Rep. Thomas Massie – has already said he doesn’t plan to vote for Johnson. The Kentucky Republican told CNN on Monday that Trump’s endorsement does not change his position.

Members had been preparing for a Trump endorsement, one source told CNN. But the same source warned that it may not be enough. For now, Johnson allies are keeping close tabs on members who have not yet committed to backing him.

In addition to Trump’s endorsement, any GOP holdouts could also face pressure from Johnson allies over the potential consequences for the incoming president if the House does not quickly elect a speaker.

Congress has never before tried to certify a presidential election without a House speaker in place, and Republicans across Washington are privately trying to game out what might happen if that scenario were to arise.

So far, GOP lawmakers and senior advisers say they have found no clear options to certify Trump’s win without a speaker, according to multiple sources. Some Johnson supporters are pointing to that as part of their argument for why on-the-fence GOP lawmakers should support the current speaker.

“To oppose Johnson now weakens the GOP and strengthens Hakeem Jeffries. It also puts at risk the Electoral College Certification scheduled for 6 Jan. These guys serve as a ‘fifth column’ for the Dems,” Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon told CNN.

Johnson allies undertake extensive whip operation

Over the last several weeks, Johnson’s deputies have launched an expansive whip operation, but there are still intense challenges to getting the Louisiana Republican to 218 votes – the magic number needed to win the gavel.

One Republican lawmaker familiar with the outreach told CNN that while the vast majority of GOP members understand how “monumentally stupid” it could be to have an extensive speaker’s battle, not every member is swayed by an argument that the party needs to be united going into the inauguration.

“A vast majority of Republicans are rational, but not every member of the Republican conference is rational,” the member lamented.

A CNN tally of members prior to Trump’s endorsement found that nearly a dozen others had not yet committed to Johnson.

Trump said on Monday that Johnson has his “complete” and “total” endorsement.

“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The big shadow over Johnson’s speaker race: Trump certification

Even former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz — who has previously clashed with Johnson and his leadership team — suggested his onetime colleagues should back the current speaker rather than risking Trump’s certification as president.

“We could never have held up McCarthy two years ago for concessions if a Trump certification hung in the balance. Now, it does,” Gaetz said on X, calling resistance to Johnson “futile.”

While the speaker has no formal role in certifying the results, the House needs to be called into session. And without a speaker, the House can do nothing besides vote to elect a speaker, vote to recess and vote to adjourn. Lawmakers can’t even be sworn in or set the rules of the House.

“You’re literally just stuck in a cyclical pattern of speaker votes with the clerk overseeing,” one GOP source said, describing what would happen without a speaker at the start of a new Congress.

And unlike during the House’s last speaker-less debacle in 2023, there will be no temporary leader poised to take over. When former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted, Rep. Patrick McHenry took over as speaker pro tempore because he was McCarthy’s pick when he first took the gavel. But in the 119th Congress, a speaker must first be elected before he or she can appoint a pro tempore.

Some Republicans are privately discussing ways to push the procedural limits so that Congress can certify Trump’s win without a leader. One person described an “emergency break glass option” that would involve allowing the House to vote to go into a special session. But that would be a tough sell for many institutionalist Republicans.

Another option that is being privately floated around Washington: Pushing the date of Trump’s certification.

“There is no constitutional mandate that it’s got to be on January 6,” another GOP source said, as long as it happens before January 20, the day of inauguration.

Johnson’s allies insist he will keep his gavel on Friday and is working hard to lock down the votes. But Republicans and Democrats alike are searching for answers about what would happen to certification if the House remains speaker-less three days later.

“When you don’t have a speaker, that impacts thousands of the important tasks of governing,” said one GOP lawmaker who is helping Johnson whip votes. “Clearly the whip team is aware that not having a speaker is a problem for lots of reasons.”

Johnson faces conservative ire after spending fight

After Johnson cut a deal with Democrats over spending in mid-December, Trump injected a last-minute demand to raise the debt ceiling that left Johnson grasping for a Plan B. A revised GOP plan ultimately failed to get enough Republican votes to pass and caused grumbling among Johnson’s right flank that the speaker wasn’t up to the job. It also caused some to wonder whether Trump would stick with Johnson ahead of the speaker fight.

Massie said earlier this month that he did not plan to back Johnson in the speaker’s race. In response to Trump’s endorsement, Massie wrote on X, “I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan. We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”

Another challenge: The House Freedom Caucus, which includes some of the members most wary of reelecting Johnson, has not come out with a unified list of demands, creating a situation in which every member is acting a bit as a free agent.

For some members, there are concerns about how the party will begin to pass individual spending bills again that address reducing the country’s debt and deficit. That could be difficult given that House Republicans have shown repeatedly they don’t have the votes to pass all 12 spending bills with just GOP votes. Not to mention the fact that Republicans will continue to need Democratic votes even in a Trump administration to keep the government funded given that Republicans don’t have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass bills on their own.

Johnson is also telling people that he is not open to reducing the number of members it would take to force a vote to oust a speaker after the GOP conference agreed to raise the threshold. As part of a conference-wide negotiation in November, Republicans decided to increase the number of members it would take to force a vote on what is known as the motion to vacate from one member to nine. A source familiar with Johnson’s thinking said the speaker does not believe he can reverse course on what he sees as a conference-negotiated position.

When McCarthy went 15 rounds to get the speaker’s gavel in 2023, he eventually acquiesced to conservative demands to lower the threshold for the motion to vacate to a single member, a move that ultimately led to his ouster.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

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