It’s easy to forget that after a group of House Republicans successfully ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy three years ago, his successor, Louisiana’s Mike Johnson, was not the GOP’s first choice.

Or the party’s second choice. Or its third. Or its fourth.

Rather, Johnson was the Republicans’ fifth choice when he was elected, stumbling into a job for which he was not fully prepared. He nevertheless managed to hang on to his gavel, largely by becoming a rather pitiful lapdog to Donald Trump.

But as the midterm elections approached, and it appeared all but certain that the GOP would lose its House majority, Johnson faced awkward questions about whether (and how) he would maintain his Republican leadership post in the aftermath of failure.

As recently as three weeks ago, the House speaker told CBS News, “In the unlikely scenario where we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would ask me to continue leading this conference, even if we have divided government.”

The morning after a historic voter smackdown, his colleagues did not ask Johnson to continue leading the conference. On the contrary, as MS NOW confirmed with two House GOP leadership sources, the outgoing House speaker told his staff on Tuesday morning that he wouldn’t run for House minority leader, ending his tenure as a congressional leader.

Whether Johnson intends to abandon his congressional seat altogether is not yet clear, but for now, the Louisianan is paying a real price for failure.

There will be plenty to say about his hapless time with the speaker’s gavel, but in the short term, there’s a more immediate question to consider: Who will lead the House Republican minority in the next Congress?

MS NOW has confirmed that Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, the current House majority leader, is moving forward with plans to replace his fellow Louisianan, but he won’t run unopposed: Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has already announced plans to run for minority leader, setting up a clash between two prominent GOP members — both of whom, incidentally, launched failed bids for speaker three years ago, before the party settled on Johnson.

As for Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, who has struggled at times during his role as the House majority whip, he doesn’t intend to seek a promotion, though the Minnesotan is already contacting GOP colleagues, hoping to serve as House minority whip in the next Congress.

We don’t yet know whether Trump will try to dictate the outcome of these congressional leadership races, though just as important, we also don’t yet know how much Republican members will care about the lame-duck president’s wishes or preferences. Watch this space.

The post Following losses, Speaker Johnson to give up leadership post, sparking new GOP fight appeared first on MS NOW.

Author: Source Author

From MS Now.