WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson is giving up the leadership. He broke the news to his own staff first, on a call Wednesday morning: he will not run for minority leader in the next Congress, Reuters reported, a day after Republicans lost the House in the midterm elections.
Johnson was not short of a seat himself. He won reelection handily in his Louisiana district, USA TODAY reported, and he is not expected to resign from Congress. What ends is his time at the top of the House Republicans, with Democrats due to hold majorities in the House and the Senate in the next session.
He got the gavel in October 2023, picked after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy, and he kept it for three years.
Scalise and Jordan move first
The race to replace him started at once. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Johnson’s No. 2 and a fellow Louisianan, has begun telling colleagues he intends to run for the top Republican post, two sources told Fox News Digital. One source described his pitch this way: his first goal is to lead the conference back into the majority.
Jim Jordan of Ohio, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, is expected to be the other name in it. Fox News Digital reported that Jordan is already on the phone to Republican colleagues about the job. Whoever wins needs a majority of the Republican conference behind him, not a majority of the whole 435-seat House. The choice is the party’s alone.
Overnight, before the staff call, Johnson had put the election loss in writing.
“While the outcome of this midterm is not what we’d hoped and fought for, a new battle is just beginning,”
Republicans will pick their leaders on Nov. 10, a Republican aide familiar with the planning said. Across the aisle, the gavel is headed to Hakeem Jeffries. He is in line to be speaker when the new Congress convenes in January.
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