by Ben Whedon
House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly said Wednesday that he will not run for House minority leader, setting up a battle for the GOP leadership after a rout on Tuesday sent the party to minority status.
Johnson confirmed his plans in a staff call, according to Punchbowl News. He has made no public announcement about his future plans for Congress, as of mid-morning.
CBS also reports Johnson, of Louisiana, announced his plan on the call, based on sources who were on the call.
Johnson became speaker of the House after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy and a series of failed attempts to unite the party. He inherited a narrow and fractious Republican majority, but managed to send several key bills to the Senate, though that chamber was less productive.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is expected to announce his bid for minority leader. The Ohio Republican is most well-known for his work on the Judiciary Committee and his oversight efforts.
But whoever succeeds Johnson will face an uphill battle to reclaim the majority, as Democrats are set to carve out a substantial majority in the lower chamber when the final results are tallied.
According to reporter Juliegrace Brufke, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, has thrown his hat into the race for GOP leadership. Bruke reported Scalise has sent a letter to colleagues explaining why he has decided to run for leadership.
“Last night’s election was far worse than any of us expected. We fought hard and left it all on the field, but clearly, we were unable to defy history. Despite all we accomplished together, we will now find ourselves in the minority along with losing some incredible friends and public servants,” Scalise wrote.
“This is no doubt a challenging time for our conference, but overcoming adversity is nothing new to me. We will need to be honest with ourselves about what happened, but it is more important now than ever for us to emerge from this stronger and united because the stakes couldn’t be higher,” he added.
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Mike Johnson” by Mike Johnson.Â
