Speaker Johnson won't seek reelection as House Republican leader after
party's midterm losses
[November 05, 2026]
By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will be stepping aside from
Republican Party leadership after the GOP’s wipeout in the midterm
election, declining to seek support to stay on as House minority leader
in the new Congress, according to two people familiar with his decision
Wednesday.
Johnson is expected to retain his seat as a rank-and-file member of the
House from Louisiana when Congress convenes in January. He won
reelection from his Shreveport-area district for a sixth term in office.
It’s a swift rise and fall for Johnson, often seen as an accidental
speaker, who nevertheless drew close to President Donald Trump and led
the House GOP during a tumultuous era, with one of the slimmest
majorities in modern times.
And it sets up a fierce internal party battle for the new GOP leader
after Democrats swept to power.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority leader, said in a
letter to colleagues that “the election was far worse than any of us
expected” and he is running for the minority leadership post because
“the stakes couldn't be higher.” Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio sent a letter
to colleagues describing himself as “battle-tested” as he announced his
bid for the job.
House Republicans are expected to elect their new leader when
members-elect gather in Washington next week, in what will likely be a
familiar showdown between Scalise and Jordan, who reached for the top
spot before, only to lose out, paving the way for Johnson.
The people who told The Associated Press about Johnson’s decision
insisted on anonymity to disclose it.
Johnson’s sunny assertions that Republicans would defy history in the
midterms, as voters traditionally have punished the president’s party in
power, failed to hold. Instead, Republicans were trounced as Democrats
swept to the House majority, leaving Johnson without a path to power.
The powerful speaker’s gavel now is expected to pass to Democrats, who
are preparing to nominate House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New
York for the job, second in line to the president. The House speaker’s
election is among the first votes of the new Congress, on Jan. 3, 2027.
From Shreveport to Washington
Johnson first won the speaker's gavel in 2023 after his colleagues
ousted the previous GOP speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, in a
first-of-its-kind coup in House history.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., departs after speaking during a
campaign rally at the Five Flags Event Center, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026,
in Dubuque, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
A lower-level member of House leadership, Johnson in many ways fell
into the job after Republican colleagues could not agree on a
successor to McCarthy. He had distinguished himself before the Jan.
6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by organizing support for Trump’s
false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election he lost to
Democrat Joe Biden.
Once in office, Johnson quickly pulled closer to Trump — so close
that Johnson candidly recounts their almost daily phone calls and
chats, often offering his impressions in the president's voice.
Johnson led passage of the GOP's signature package of tax breaks and
social services cuts that Trump signed into law. He protected the
president and his administration from embarrassing votes, including
a recent effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, by simply
sending lawmakers home.
House leadership elections ahead
Johnson's decision sets up a potential repeat of the leadership
battles that have played out in recent years between the House GOP's
conservative and far-right flanks.
Scalise has long courted backing from the House GOP's conservative
wing, particularly business and energy sector lawmakers. Jordan, the
brawling former wrestler who helmed the Judiciary Committee, has
long been preferred by the hard right, including some from the
Freedom Caucus.
Both Scalise and Jordan tried for the speaker's gavel once McCarthy
was forced aside in 2023, but they failed to win majority support
from their colleagues, splitting the votes. At the time, Johnson
emerged as the consensus candidate who became the House speaker.
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