One high-profile Republican lawmaker urged President-elect Donald Trump to personally call GOP conference members on House Speaker Mike Johnson's behalf.
Trump on Monday used his social media site Truth Social to call for retaining Johnson as speaker in the new Congress. House Republicans will vote for a new House leader on Friday.
The GOP will hold a narrow 219-215 majority – with former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz's seat vacant – when the new Congress begins. Johnson will need 218 votes to retain the gavel.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, said Trump should call Republican members personally and encourage them to support Johnson, whom some conservatives have criticized after he agreed with Democrats on a failed spending deal last week.
"I strongly encourage Donald Trump to get on the phone with those five or six members who won't commit to voting for Mike Johnson because all this is going to do is delay us," Comer said Sunday on Fox News Channel.
"It's going to delay the certification of President Trump's election. It's going to delay the start of his first 100 days in office, which is the most important time frame of his whole presidency. That's when you get the most done, historically."
Comer added: "So, I strongly encourage President Trump to get on the phone and try to get everyone united so we can work together as a team and make America great again."
Several conservatives said they either would not vote to reelect Johnson or needed to think about how to vote after chaotic negotiations led to the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government.
Comer said he was worried that the GOP might repeat last year's speakership battle in which a few Republicans joined Democrats to oust Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
"We have seen it play out over the past two years. It was very difficult for Kevin McCarthy. It's been very difficult for Mike Johnson. It would be very difficult for whomever would be elected Speaker of our conference," Comer said, The Hill reported.
"At the end of the day, the difference between the 119th Congress and the 118th Congress is, we will have a Republican president, a strong Republican president who's very popular with Republican congressmen's constituents back home, and that's Donald Trump."