House Republicans Prepare for Series of Nasty Leadership Fights After Johnson Leaves the Stage

Less than 48 hours after losing control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans are already setting themselves up for a series of fights for slots in the ranks of leadership. As of Wednesday morning, the top three positions will be contested, while the fourth-highest ranking position could be vacated by the incumbent, leading to another battle. Speaker Mike Johnson informed his colleagues on Wednesday morning that he would not seek the minority leadership position — nor any other post in House Republicans leadership — and would instead return to the back benches. Mr. Johnson has held the gavel for just over three years, and by the time he leaves the office in January, he will be the second-shortest-serving speaker this century, outside of the nine-month tenure of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The minority leader post is likely to be filled by one of two men — Majority Leader Steve Scalise or the Judiciary Committee chairman, Congressman Jim Jordan. Mr. Scalise has served in leadership for more than a decade, while Mr. Jordan made a name of himself as a partisan bomb-thrower and hardline conservative as a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus. Both Messrs. Scalise and Jordan have sought the speakership before, though both fell flat. After Mr. McCarthy was removed in October 2023, Mr. Scalise briefly became the head of the GOP conference and, by default, his party’s nominee for speaker. In order to be elected speaker, one must receive a simple majority of votes cast on the floor. Mr. Scalise’s bid was quickly derailed after some conservatives questioned his right-wing bona fides and others worried about his health, given that he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Mr. Scalise would later take a six-week leave of absence in order to undergo a stem cell treatment to combat the disease. Mere days after being elected as head of the conference, he dropped out of the race for speaker without holding a vote on the floor. Mr. Jordan then became the GOP’s nominee for speaker, though even through multiple rounds of voting on the floor, dozens of Republicans kept defecting, leading Mr. Jordan to withdraw. In letters to their colleagues on Wednesday, Messrs. Scalise and Jordan both acknowledged the scale of the crisis as Democrats are projected to end up with around 250 seats in the chamber. Mr. Scalise called the result “far worse” than anyone had expected. Mr. Jordan called the loss “staggering.”Republican leadership elections will likely be held in late November or early December. Democrats will hold their elections in just over two weeks, with only one position — to be vice chairwoman of the Democratic Caucus — expected to be contested. The race is between Congresswoman Sara Jacobs and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood. The second-most powerful position in the GOP conference — the role of minority whip — will also be up for grabs. The current majority whip, Congressman Tom Emmer, is looking to hold on to his role as his conference’s top vote-counter, though he is being challenged by Congressman August Pfluger. Mr. Pfluger, who won a fourth term on Tuesday, has a powerful base of support as chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee — the largest Republican caucus in the House. Mr. Emmer has always had weaknesses on the right flank of his conference. He, like Messrs. Scalise and Jordan, also ran for speaker in 2023 after Mr. McCarthy was ousted. He dropped out only hours after being chosen as the new leader of the conference after he was challenged by the right flank on two issues: Mr. Emmer’s vote to certify the 2020 election results and his support for a bill to codify the legality of same-sex marriages in federal law. When he was elected majority whip in 2023, Mr. Emmer won by only nine votes — 115 to 106 in the simple-majority vote. Another position, to be chairwoman of the conference, will be between the current occupant, Congresswoman Lisa McClain, and Congresswoman Erin Houchin, another current member of leadership, though lower down in the ranks. The fourth position, conference vice chairman, is now held by Congressman Blake Moore. Mr. Moore plans on running for another term as vice chairman, though he told Deseret News on Wednesday that he will also seek the top Republican slot on the Budget Committee. He told Deseret that if he was chosen for that committee spot, he would give up the vice chairman position, which would kick off another contested race at the highest ranks of leadership. The problem for the current members of leadership and those looking to move up is that the GOP conference will now be far smaller and, by nature, more conservative on average, given the fact that it was the more centrist Republican incumbents who went down on Tuesday night. Some in the GOP are already embracing a “throw the bums out” attitude.“Dear Republican Senate and House ‘Leadership,’ No, the polls were not wrong. You were. Even with record amounts of money at your disposal, you managed to get absolutely annihilated,” Congressman Greg Steube of Florida, who is considering a run for a leadership position, wrote on X on Wednesday. He accused the current leadership of being “embarrassingly weak and more afraid of governing conservatively than of disappointing the voters who put us in office.”“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,” Mr. Steube wrote.

House Republicans Prepare for Series of Nasty Leadership Fights After Johnson Leaves the Stage

House Republicans Prepare for Series of Nasty Leadership Fights After Johnson Leaves the Stage

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