Speaker Mike Johnson Won’t Seek House GOP Leadership After Midterm Wipeout

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (TodayViralUSA) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said he will not run to lead House Republicans in the minority after Democrats’ sweeping midterm takeover, ending a three-year speakership that began as a compromise choice and became tightly aligned with President Donald Trump.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told staff on a Wednesday call that he would not seek the House minority leader’s post when the new Congress convenes in January, according to multiple people familiar with the conversation and reporting by NBC News, the Associated Press and Reuters. Republicans are scheduled to hold an internal leadership election on Nov. 10.

From surprise speaker to Trump ally

Johnson won the speakership in October 2023 after hard-right colleagues ousted Kevin McCarthy and rivals Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan split the conference. A relatively junior member at the time, he emerged as a consensus pick and later described near-daily contact with Trump while steering the GOP’s signature tax-and-spending package through the House.

He is expected to keep his Shreveport-area House seat; he won an eighth term on Election Night. Stepping aside from conference leadership leaves open a contest that could again pit the party’s business-oriented wing against its hard right, with Scalise and Jordan among the names already circulating.

Aftermath of a blue wave

Democrats flipped more than 40 House seats and are on track for roughly 256 seats, according to CBS News estimates, while capturing at least 54 Senate seats. Johnson’s decision caps a rapid rise that began with organizing challenges to the 2020 election results and ended with Republicans preparing for life in the minority under a Democratic Congress and a Republican president.