Scalise, Jordan Bid To Steer Wayward Party After Johnson Steps Down as House Republican Leader

Speaker Mike Johnson will step down from his post as leader of the House Republican Conference, The New York Sun can confirm, after a scalding flameout by Republicans in the midterm congressional elections. His fellow Louisianan, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan, are running to succeed him. Mr. Johnson was elevated to the speakership in October 2023 after a small group of hardline conservatives ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy. A series of GOP candidates who were more well-known by the public were defeated for a number of reasons, allowing Mr. Johnson — then the fifth-highest ranking member of House GOP leadership — to rise to a position that put him third-in-line to the presidency. After the historic midterm election loss that Republicans suffered on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson made clear his decision to give up his post at the head of the conference, according to a Republican member of the House granted anonymity to speak candidly. The speaker will retain his leadership post until the next Congress, though a conference vote to replace him will be held later this month or in early December.Had he run for a second full term, Mr. Johnson was widely expected to face an internal challenge from either Mr. Scalise or Mr. Jordan, or both. Mr. Johnson will not run for any leadership role, returning to the backbench after winning his district re-election with 58.5 percent of the vote. After Mr. Johnson decided to step aside, Mr. Scalise told colleagues in an open letter that he would run to lead the conference as minority leader in the next Congress. In his note, he told Republican lawmakers that Tuesday was “far worse” than he had expected. “The socialists are coming to Washington with a radical agenda that threatens the America we hold dear,” Mr. Scalise wrote. Mr. Jordan also announced his candidacy on Wednesday. President Trump told reporters at the White House that he will not take sides in the leadership battle. As of Wednesday afternoon, House Republicans are on track to lose the House majority in a big way, giving up at least 35 seats, according to projections and ongoing counts in House races. With Democrats now expected to win at least 249 seats, up from 214, they will have their party’s biggest post-midterm margin since President George H.W. Bush’s midterm routing in 1990. The Senate’s Republican leader, John Thune, has not officially declared if he will run for Senate Republican Conference leader again, though no candidates are currently stepping up to challenge him. Mr. Thune narrowly won the majority leader role in 2024 after defeating Senator John Cornyn in a closed-door vote. Mr. Cornyn is retiring this year after being defeated in the Texas Republican primary. On the Democratic side, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is now the odds-on favorite to be elected Speaker of the House in January, becoming the first black speaker in history. There were fears among some Democrats that the new crop of left-wing House Democrats who will be seated in January would block Mr. Jeffries from taking the gavel if the Democrats’ margin was small. Now, with a healthy majority, Mr. Jeffries is all but guaranteed to win the speakership on January 3, 2027.Speaking at an early morning press conference Wednesday as results were still coming in, Mr. Jeffries called Tuesday’s results “a stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism.”“The polls were wrong — it wasn’t simply a blue wave, it was an American tsunami,” Mr. Jeffries said. He predicted that his majority could reach 255 seats. For Democrats in the upper chamber, Senator Chuck Schumer expressed his readiness to reassume the mantle of majority leader. Through the last two years, several Democratic Senate candidates made clear that they would not support Mr. Schumer for another term leading the Democratic caucus, with a decisive victory, Mr. Schumer was not expecting a challenge to his ascent. The vote will be held later this year in a secret ballot election. “I will be re-elected as majority leader. But the issue is focusing on the American people and what they want,’” Mr. Schumer told reporters on Wednesday.

Scalise, Jordan Bid To Steer Wayward Party After Johnson Steps Down as House Republican Leader

Scalise, Jordan Bid To Steer Wayward Party After Johnson Steps Down as House Republican Leader

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