Spartz, key Speaker holdout, says she will decide tomorrow on Johnson

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who has been a key holdout in House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) tight race to continue his Speakership, said Thursday that she will decide Friday whether to vote for him.

“I will make [the] decision tomorrow,” Spartz told a group of reporters in the Capitol, adding that she and Johnson met and that it went well.

Spartz also told the reporters that she and the House Speaker had talked to each other about the governance of the legislative branch. She also emphasized the significance of sharing House Republicans’ future actions “publicly.”

“It’s not about me, or anyone else, it’s about the American people,” Spartz said. “We have to deliver to the American people.”

Friday's vote to elect a new House Speaker comes shortly after a contentious period for Johnson last month centered on the end-of-year funding package to keep the government open.

On Monday, Spartz said that Johnson must lay out a plan to deliver on the agenda of President-elect Trump if he wants to get her vote for Speaker. The Indiana Republican said in a Fox News interview that she was looking at the Speaker’s “track record” and believed “unfortunately we will not be able to deliver on President Trump’s agenda … if we don’t have a Speaker with courage, vision and a plan.”

"If Speaker Johnson wants to be Speaker, then he needs to lay out that plan and commit to that plan, not like what he did last year. He committed on the House floor to have a fiscal commission, so we have a plan for debt ceiling increase, which President Trump is right about; we have no plan."

Earlier this week, Trump offered a complete and total endorsement of Johnson, calling him “a good, hard working, religious man.”

The Hill has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

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