Mike Johnson steps aside as House Republican leader after midterm rout, setting up a Scalise–Jordan contest
The House Speaker told staff on Wednesday that he would not seek to lead Republicans in the new Congress, a day after Democrats swept both chambers in the midterm elections.
House Speaker Mike Johnson will step aside as the leader of House Republicans in the new Congress, bringing an end to a three-year run at the top of the chamber after his party's sweeping defeat in the midterm elections.
Johnson told his staff on Wednesday morning that he would not seek to remain as the party's leader when the new Congress convenes in January, according to people familiar with his decision. His spokesman confirmed the move to the AFP news agency in a one-word email: "Accurate". The Associated Press, citing two people familiar with the decision, reported that Johnson had declined to seek support to stay on as House minority leader, the post he would hold once Democrats take the majority.
The decision came a day after Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, a result that ended unified Republican rule in Washington and left Johnson, 54, without a path to power. The Louisiana Republican had entered the campaign insisting that his party would defy the usual midterm pattern, in which voters punish the president's party, but Republicans were trounced across the country as Democrats flipped seats in states including Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Maine and South Carolina.
Johnson is not leaving Congress. Voters in Louisiana's 4th District re-elected him on Tuesday with about 58 per cent of the vote in a five-candidate field, giving him an eighth term in the House. He is expected to return in January as a rank-and-file member, a striking change of fortune for a man who, as speaker, stood second in the line of presidential succession, behind only the vice-president.
In a letter to colleagues, Johnson said leadership had demanded "significant sacrifices" from his family and that, after three years as speaker, "the time has come for me to give them more of the attention and presence they so richly deserve". The letter did not mention the election defeat. In a separate statement posted overnight, he acknowledged that "the outcome of this midterm is not what we'd hoped and fought for", but vowed that Republicans would keep fighting and promised that "come 2028, we WILL take back the House".
Johnson's rise to the speakership was itself the product of crisis. He won the gavel in October 2023 after his colleagues ousted the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, in the first removal of a speaker in American history, and then spent weeks deadlocked before settling on Johnson, then a little-known backbencher, as a compromise choice. He went on to serve two terms as speaker, steering the chamber through the first two years of Donald Trump's second presidency.
Only months ago, Johnson had signalled that he intended to stay. In an interview in June, he said he planned to keep "steady hands at the wheel" of Republican leadership after the midterms and to win the election and maintain the speakership. The scale of Tuesday's defeat changed that calculation, and by Wednesday morning he was telling staff that his time as leader was over.
The contest to succeed him opened immediately. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio both announced bids on Wednesday to become the party's next leader, setting up a familiar showdown between two men who reached for the top job before. Scalise ran for speaker in 2023 but dropped out after failing to consolidate support, clearing the way for Johnson; Jordan also sought the post in that contest.
House Republicans are scheduled to hold their leadership elections on 10 November, with candidates asked to declare by 6 November. President Donald Trump told reporters he would stay out of the contest and said he did not ask Johnson to step down. One person familiar with the situation said Johnson did not want to get in the way of Scalise's ambitions.
On the Democratic side, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is in line to become speaker when the new Congress convenes in January. The speaker's election is among the first votes of the new House, scheduled for 3 January 2027, and Johnson will remain speaker until the new chamber is sworn in.
The leadership change is the latest aftershock of an election in which voters punished Republicans over the cost of living, tariffs and the war in Iran, which has pushed fuel prices sharply higher. Vice President JD Vance has blamed the Iran war for the defeat, writing that "the reason we lost is the war", while Mr Trump has acknowledged that the conflict played a role but said he would do it again.
For Democrats, Johnson's departure removes the Republican who led the House through two years of their minority and hands the gavel to a new generation. For Republicans, the race between Mr Scalise and Mr Jordan will decide who leads a diminished minority into the final two years of Mr Trump's presidency, and whether the party rebuilds around the leadership that lost the midterms or turns to a fresh face.
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