House Speaker Mike Johnson will not run for the top House Republican leadership post in the new Congress. Johnson announced the decision on a staff call Wednesday, saying he will give up his role as the party’s leader after Republicans lost the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to Bloomberg Government.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, is not leaving Congress. Voters in Louisiana’s 4th District re-elected him Tuesday with 58% of the vote in a five-candidate field, according to unofficial returns from the Louisiana Secretary of State reported by the Shreveport-Bossier Journal. What he is giving up is the leadership job itself: Democrats will hold the majority when the new Congress convenes, and Johnson will not seek to lead Republicans in the minority.
Democrats won majorities in both the House and the Senate on Tuesday, ending the Republican governing trifecta in Washington. Read J News Network’s coverage of the results here.
In a statement posted overnight, Johnson acknowledged the defeat and vowed to fight on. “While the outcome of this midterm is not what we’d hoped and fought for, a new battle is just beginning,” he wrote. “Republicans will never stop fighting to defend the Constitution and protect the foundations that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world. We will continue pressing forward with our agenda of common sense, and our vision to make America great again — and come 2028, we WILL take back the House and we will finish the job.” The remarks were reported by USA Today.
The announcement reverses the position Johnson signaled before the election. He had told CBS News that if Republicans lost the House in what he called an “unlikely scenario,” he expected his colleagues would ask him to continue leading the conference even in divided government, according to reporting by The Hill.
Johnson took over as speaker in late 2023, after House Republicans ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and spent weeks deadlocked before settling on Johnson as their compromise pick.
The contest to succeed him opens immediately. Bloomberg Government reports House Republicans largely expect Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio to vie for the top post, though other contenders could emerge before the Nov. 6 deadline for candidates to declare. Fox News Digital reported Wednesday that Jordan is already calling GOP colleagues about leading House Republicans as minority leader, citing two sources. Jordan, who represents Ohio’s 4th District, previously ran for speaker during the 2023 leadership fight.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is in line to become speaker when the new Congress convenes in January.
