CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Republican Mike Johnson got to keep his job as House speaker thanks to two representatives who changed their votes after originally voting against him. One of those men was Congressman Ralph Norman, South Carolina's 5th district representative. Queen City News Anchor Alicia Barnes sat down with Rep. Norman on Sunday to find out what happened behind the scenes and why he decided to flip his vote. For the full one-on-one interview with Rep. Ralph Norman, watch the video above. Alicia: How did the voting for the first round go for you? Rep. Norman: First of all, let me just say that, in Washington D.C., the question I got most, you know from the media was... it looks so bad. It didn't look bad on over for the Republican Party and all I would say is this, 'optics over outcome' and the optics to me don't matter like outcomes do. What are the outcomes that we wanted? I didn't know how I was going to vote when I walked in. We've had a previous meeting with Mike Johnson to discuss what's he going to do to pass the Trump agenda, but I guess our frustration was after November 5th, after the vote, President Trump was elected. We got the House, we took the Senate. We got this 1500-page bill that we had 12 hours to read. We had a 100 billion spending spree with no offsets. And so that was the crux of my dilemma. Alicia: But knowing the margin and knowing that he could only lose one, you knew when you voted, obviously that this was going to not allow him to become speaker. Rep. Norman: Yeah, I knew that. But it was only me and Keith Self. You had seven others who voted silent. They just didn't vote and I just don't do that. I was going to take a vote, even if it meant, and I knew it meant him not going to get the first vote. After that happened, we sat back down...I walked to the back. Nancy Mace handed me the phone and said 'You want to talk to President Trump?' I said, 'Yes, I'll talk to President Trump.' Had a great conversation. His first words to me were, 'You took me off the golf course.' And then we just said, 'Look, what's the problem?' I just said...I get Mike Johnson is your man, but I said the outcome for the last 14 months has not been good. Alicia: I know there was a letter that went out specifically to talk about immigration and talking about a 72-hour rule, things like that, that they wanted. Did you list those out? Did he give you assurance? Was he clear? Rep. Norman: He was very clear and he had had a list that was the same thing, but a list versus putting it into reality are two different things...and Trump emphasized to us, he's the only one that can get elected. He's the only one that can get 218 votes. I get that. Alicia: I think people want to know, did you get something out of this? Was there any kind of concessions that were there or was this strictly that you wanted these measures taken? Rep. Norman: I wanted these measures taken. The Rules Committee, which I'm on is an important committee. We want good people. Conservatives on rules. That's his appointment. And he just said, to his credit, look, I'm not cutting deals on who goes on what committees, but I said, 'You make this call. Will you put conservatives on the Rules Committee?' And I'm one of them. Chippewa is one of them and we have been on it for the last two years and he said I will put conservatives on. I will put conservatives in the room to negotiate so that it's not Hakeem Jeffries. It's not staff, it's not unelected bureaucrats, it's business people who can come to the public and say this is the cuts we're making. This is why we've got to get behind it. Alicia: Moving forward your relationship with now House Speaker Mike Johnson, what's it like? Rep. Norman: It's good. President Trump is, I mean, first thing you tell me, you came out for Nikki Haley. I said 'yes'. 'Well, how did that work out for you?' I said Nikki Haley and I go way back and we're good friends. She is responsible for me being in Congress because she came out at a critical time. Alicia: And also Tim Scott. Rep. Norman: And Tim Scott. She put Tim Scott in the position he's in, which he would not have had. And I like them, I just had a loyalty there as I've told President Trump on numerous conversations. I called him before I endorsed Haley and then I called him after when he won. I owed him that. I respect the man. Alicia: Last question I have for you is, would you have done it exactly the same way all over again? Rep. Norman: Absolutely. An hour to spend doing what we did and my vote, that's the only time when you elect a speaker, you got one shot at doing it. I just don't give my vote away. I'm going to continue to do the same thing, and if I feel like that, we're going off course and the country is really not getting in a solid position. Like your household, you cannot spend more than you make. In my business, you cannot spend more than you make...I think Donald Trump knows the stakes, he's very bright and he's got a force to make it happen.