There was a first-day-of-school energy on Capitol Hill as members of Congress took their oaths and Speaker Mike Johnson fought for his job.
Former Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman-turned-attorney-general-nominee-turned-cable-news-host-with-baggage, made a bold proclamation at 9:46 a.m. on the opening day of the 119th Congress.
“Mike Johnson will be elected Speaker today,” Mr. Gaetz, who brought down the last Republican speaker, wrote on social media. “On the first vote. People might like or dislike that. I’m just reporting the news.”
With potential holdouts hinting at a revolt against Mr. Johnson, it seemed like an overly optimistic statement regarding the fate of an embattled leader presiding over a minuscule majority. But in the end, it turned out that Mr. Gaetz was well-sourced on the story.
Several hours and one prolonged roll-call vote later — after six abstainers finally said Mr. Johnson’s name and President-elect Donald J. Trump called in from his golf course in Florida to persuade two other defectors to switch their votes — Mr. Johnson won the gavel.
It felt like an appropriately wobbly start to what promises to be a turbulent Republican-majority Congress at the dawn of Mr. Trump’s second term.
While Mr. Johnson spent the morning huddling in his office suite near the Rotunda and talking with holdouts, the Capitol was buzzing with first-day-of-school energy.
On the Senate side, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived to swear in 100 senators, including political detractors like Josh Hawley of Missouri and Bernie Moreno of Ohio, who made polite chitchat with the woman they had lambasted just months ago for her “radical agenda.”
A gaggle of daughters who came with Dave McCormick, the Pennsylvania Republican who unseated Senator Bob Casey, the state’s longtime Democratic incumbent, lingered after he took his oath to take a group shot with Ms. Harris, whispering and giggling with her before reluctantly walking off.
With all the drama and speculation, it was easy to forget that until the last Congress, the election of a speaker was little more than a formality. But as the vote began to unfold on Friday, it looked like House Republicans were set to repeat their performance of two years ago, when it took Representative Kevin McCarthy 15 votes and four days to secure the gavel in a once-in-a-century embarrassment of a floor fight.
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, cast a protest vote for Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the G.O.P. whip, and then Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina called out, “Jim Jordan,” making it seem as if Mr. Johnson would lose on the first round. Soon, Representative Keith Self of Texas would join them in naming someone else.
Milling ensued. So did whipping phone calls from Mr. Trump, who was reached on his golf course in Florida to twist the arms of some of the holdouts.
Typically disruptive members of Congress suddenly stepped up to try and help close the deal. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who last year tried to oust Mr. Johnson, had come around and was photographed talking on the phone to Susie Wiles, the incoming White House chief of staff.