Mike Johnson does not plan to remain Republican leader in the new Congress after the party suffered a bruising defeat in the midterm elections, according to a source familiar with his plans.
The Louisiana Republican has served two terms as Speaker of the House, taking the position after his predecessor, California representative Kevin McCarthy, was ousted in 2023.
His decision will leave Republicans facing a contest for their senior House leadership role in opposition. The party is due to hold its leadership elections on 10 November.
Johnson worked closely with the Trump administration during his time as Speaker, while attempting to hold together a Republican conference operating with an extremely narrow majority. The margin meant that the defection of even one Republican could put party priorities at risk.
Republicans had been seeking to defy the historical pattern of the president’s party losing seats in midterm elections. Instead, the Democratic gains exceeded expectations in Washington and included constituencies in traditionally Republican states previously won by the president.
Speaking on Tuesday night, Johnson acknowledged the difficulty of retaining control of the House.
“From the first day of this election, we knew that to keep the House and sustain our majority, we would have to defy more than a century of midterm history. It’s only happened twice in 90 years that a sitting president has picked up or held seats for his party in that first two-year cycle. There’s a lot of reasons for it. It’s very, very difficult to overcome, and it looks like history will be kept tonight,” he said.
The presumptive next Speaker is New York representative Hakeem Jeffries. Unlike Johnson, Mr Jeffries is expected to have a comfortable majority, giving him greater room to pursue Democratic priorities even if some members dissent.
His election would also make history: he would become the first Black lawmaker to serve as Speaker of the House.
