WASHINGTON — A day after Democrats captured the House majority, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told his staff Wednesday morning he will not stay on as Republican leader in the new Congress, according to four sources on the phone call.
His announcement follows massive losses for his party in House races Tuesday.
Johnson’s departure will leave open the position of House minority leader. Republicans are scheduled to hold an internal election to select their candidate for the position Nov. 10.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is the No. 2 GOP leader, a close Johnson ally and a fellow Louisiana Republican, announced his bid for minority leader in a letter to GOP colleagues Wednesday. He became a national figure after he survived an assassination attempt during the 2017 congressional baseball game shooting.
“Last night’s election was far worse than any of us expected. We fought hard and left it all on the field, but clearly, we were unable to defy history,” Scalise wrote to his colleagues.
“This is no doubt a challenging time for our conference, but overcoming adversity is nothing new to me,” he said. “We will need to be honest with ourselves about what happened, but it is more important now than ever for us to emerge from this stronger and united because the stakes couldn’t be higher.”
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a conservative leader in the House and staunch defender of President Donald Trump, is also running for GOP leader, he told colleagues in a letter Wednesday.
Earlier in his career, Jordan, a former collegiate wrestler and coach, was the founding chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and a frequent thorn in the side of GOP leadership. He unsuccessfully ran for minority leader and speaker before working with leadership as a committee chairman.
A former Oversight Committee chairman as well, Jordan made the case that he is “battle-tested on the oversight front” and prepared to combat Democrats’ myriad investigations of Trump.
“I know the Democrats’ playbook. I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats’ tactics,” Jordan said in his letter. “We need a Leadership team that is active and engaged, forward-thinking and straight-shooting.”
And in a surprise, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill, said he would challenge Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., for the GOP whip spot, the No. 2 leadership job in the minority.
In the wake of Tuesday night’s drubbing, some Republicans are calling for wholesale change in the leadership team.
“We need a complete reset of all leadership,” said one senior GOP lawmaker.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., made similar remarks, saying House GOP leadership alienated conservatives.
“You have been embarrassingly weak and more afraid of governing conservatively than of disappointing the voters who put us in office,” Steube said on X.
“Instead of standing firm on our principles, you have governed out of fear, continually knelt to the moderates in our conference (who all got crushed last night anyway), and discarded conservatives like me who warned of last night’s results,” he added. “Please do us all a favor and step aside so new leadership can take a truly conservative direction, with the courage to do the things we were elected to do.”
Johnson has served two terms as speaker, having risen from obscurity to the top job after Republicans ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in October 2023.
The Louisiana Republican, who won re-election to his House seat Tuesday night, is expected to remain in the House next year, though it’s unclear if he will serve out his full two-year term or leave early as other former speakers have done.
Punchbowl News first reported Johnson’s decision.