By House Speaker Mike Johnson is stepping aside as the House’s Republican leader after a midterm shellacking that cost his party its majority and left the GOP preparing to defend President Donald Trump from Democratic investigations. After two years in which Republicans struggled to turn control of Washington into legislative results, the party now faces a leadership fight over who will manage the wreckage.
Johnson told his staff Wednesday that he would not seek to remain the top House Republican when the new Congress convenes, according to four people who heard the call. His decision came one day after Democrats captured the chamber, turning Republican promises of an ambitious governing agenda into a looming struggle over subpoenas, oversight hearings, and the future of Trump’s presidency.
BREAKING: Speaker Mike Johnson tells staff he is NOT running for House minority leader, Fox News Digital has learned.
The decision comes as Rep. Jim Jordan is running for the position, setting up a leadership shakeup for House Republicans as they prepare for their next chapter… pic.twitter.com/jNWedcRT3G
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 4, 2026
The defeat represents a political disaster for a party that had the opportunity to deliver lasting changes through Congress. Republicans spent much of their majority fighting among themselves and struggling to move legislation. Now, with control slipping away, the immediate competition is over who can best lead the opposition.
House Republicans will choose their nominee for minority leader on November 10, and the contest is already taking shape, according to NBC News. Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Johnson’s longtime ally and the second-ranking House Republican, intends to announce his candidacy later Wednesday, his office confirmed.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio is also seeking the job. In a letter circulated to colleagues Wednesday, the prominent Trump ally made clear that fighting Democratic investigations would be central to his pitch, describing himself as “battle-tested on the oversight front and prepared to combat Democrats’ myriad investigations of Trump.”
NEW: @FoxNews obtains Rep. Jim Jordan’s dear colleague letter announcing his run as House Minority Leader in the new Congress.
“This is a staggering day for our conference. We are all losing colleagues and friends…we must learn from these results.” pic.twitter.com/CPqNSbD4Wu
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) November 4, 2026
“I know the Democrats’ playbook. I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats’ tactics. We need a Leadership team that is active and engaged, forward-thinking and straight-shooting.”
That pitch captures how sharply Republican ambitions have contracted. The party that entered the majority with promises to change Washington is now choosing a leader based in substantial part on his ability to respond to the Democrats who will control the House’s committees.
The scramble extends beyond Johnson’s position. Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, announced an unexpected challenge to Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota for the No. 2 position in the minority leadership, opening another front in the party’s internal reckoning.
Johnson became speaker after Republicans removed Kevin McCarthy in October 2023. He won reelection to his Louisiana seat Tuesday and is expected to remain in Congress, although it remains unclear whether he will serve out his next term.
Changing leaders, however, will not answer the larger question Republicans face after this defeat. They must explain why voters should trust them with another majority when the one they just lost produced so much internal conflict and so little legislative momentum.
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