After a dramatic vote.

Republican Congressman Mike Johnson won the vote today to keep his role as House speaker.

Johnson clinched the post after two GOP lawmakers who initially voted against him flipped at the last minute.

Now, he faces a big challenge in Congress, with the narrowest House majority in nearly a century getting the speakership sorted is the first order of business, even before newly elected members can be sworn in.

New Jersey's got three fresh faces in Congress.

One Lamonica McIvor has already been serving out the remainder of the late Donald Payne junior term, while the other two are heading for their first day of class, so to speak.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz reports.

On the day before the big day, members elect Nellie Poe and Herb Conaway were like freshmen at the beginning of the semester, leaving home behind for much of the week.

For the next two years at least, and moving into the dorms.

Well, I'm now in Washington right this very moment.

So, I was moving into my new apartment that I'm that I needed to have, obviously.

So.

But just trying to get settled and, getting everything in place for tomorrow.

We packed up the car and drove down this afternoon to to, to move in some suits and shoes and various, sundry items to allow me to to work and live here for, you know, for the next couple of years.

Poe and Conway said goodbye to their respective houses in the state legislature a couple of weeks ago.

That was a place of mostly collegiality and Democratic Party control.

As first year members of the minority party in the House, Conway and Poe won't have much to say on anything but a very slim GOP House majority means their votes will at times be critical.

They are going to be left in the position of the loyal opposition, where they're pointing out where the majority party is making its mistakes.

Right?

But the margins are really, really close.

And so every vote matters.

You've got vacancies right now.

People in the House Republican caucus who are going off to be in Trump's cabinet.

And so there are vacancies that have to be filled.

And, this makes the margin really, really small.

And then suddenly it's the midterm elections and you realize just how much time you've spent over your first term simply raising money to run again.

We have to be ready for that.

As you know, anyone who wants to be a member of Congress or even in any office have to understand and have to go in with their eyes open and understanding that there are things that you just have to do.

You know, no one likes to have to be calling someone to, to fund raising.

And certainly that is not the the best part of this job.

It's but it's it's a necessary part of this job.

Both of these lawmakers have decades of experience in the legislative process.

They may be new to the House, but they ain't rookies.

The chamber may be larger, but on every level, the speaker is always the speaker.

And the caucus is always the caucus.

For me, that's, that's old hat.

It's the, the Washington experience, the enormity of this role, the importance of it, on the national landscape, not only nationally but internationally as well, that that really brings it home for somebody like me who's been in public life for a very long time.

Meanwhile, the seats being vacated will need to be filled in Passaic County, where Poe's Senate seat is open.

Assembly members Shavonda Sumter and Benjy Wimberly are among those being screened by the county committees.

Sumter is seen as the favorite to get the appointment for the remainder of the term, and the party backing for a full term.

That's not what's going to happen in Burlington.

In Burlington.

They seem ready to say we are going to appoint somebody who's not running for the full term, somebody who's not going to be the candidate, and that person is going to be the caretaker.

They're going to serve for the remainder of this term, but they're going to not run.

And we're going to let the voters decide which of the candidates.

We've got several candidates running.

Let the voters decide who the new candidate is going to be for the new job.

If all that sounds a little confusing to you, you're probably not in the minority.

When the Earth moves under your feet, as it has in new Jersey for the past two years, it can be a little disorienting, but that's all the more reason to pay close attention.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.