Speaker Mike Johnson will not run to lead House Republicans in the new Congress. He told his staff on a Wednesday morning call, a day after his party lost the House majority, NBC News reported, citing four sources on the call. Punchbowl News first reported the decision.
The move sets up a contest between Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio. Republicans vote on Nov. 10.
Johnson keeps the gavel until the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2027, when Democrats plan to nominate Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker.
Johnson reverses what he said in October
Johnson has not given a reason in his own words. His office confirmed to Blaze News that “the speaker will not be running for minority leader.” CBS News tied the decision to the party’s “extensive losses” in the House.
On election night in Shreveport, Louisiana, he looked back on the job. “It’s been the honor of my life to serve as the 56th speaker of the House,” he said, according to CBS.
That is a turn from a month ago. In an Oct. 12 CBS interview with Robert Costa, Johnson said he expected colleagues to ask him to stay on as leader in the minority. “I’m not sure what the case would be for any alternative,” he said then.
Days earlier he had sounded less sure on Fox News. “If heaven forbid, if we lose this majority or whatever, I don’t know what my next chapter of life is,” he said, as CBS quoted him.
Johnson won an eighth term from his Shreveport-area district on Tuesday. The Associated Press expects him to stay on as a rank-and-file member, according to AP’s story on PBS NewsHour. NBC said it is unclear whether he will serve his full two-year term. Other former Speakers have left early.
Scalise and Jordan set up a 2023 rematch
Scalise planned to announce his bid on Wednesday, his office told NBC. Jordan, a former Oversight chairman, made his case in a letter to colleagues that CBS and NBC both obtained.
“I know the Democrats’ playbook. I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority,” Jordan wrote, according to NBC. He called Wednesday “a staggering day for our Conference,” CBS reported. He also said he was “battle-tested on the oversight front.”
The two men have run against each other before. Both sought the Speaker’s job after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy in October 2023. Their competing bids split the conference, and Johnson emerged as the consensus choice, AP reported.
Scalise has courted business and energy lawmakers, according to AP. Jordan has drawn support from the hard right, including some Freedom Caucus members.
The whip race has a challenger too. Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, said he would run against Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota. NBC called that a surprise.
Republicans hold their leadership elections on Tuesday, Nov. 10, according to NBC and a GOP aide cited by CBS.
How the Jan. 3 Speaker vote works
The Nov. 10 vote picks a party leader, not a Speaker. The Speaker election is among the first votes of the new Congress, AP noted, and the whole House takes part.
The Constitution’s 20th Amendment sets noon on Jan. 3 as the start of each new Congress, unless a law picks another day.
Members answer the roll call by calling out a candidate’s surname. A winner needs “an absolute majority of all the votes cast for individuals,” says the Congressional Research Service. Its report on Speaker elections since 1913 was updated in April 2026.
That wording matters. Members who are absent or answer “present” don’t count, so the winning number can fall below 218. If nobody reaches a majority, the House repeats the roll call until someone does, CRS says. By custom, each party’s conference picks a nominee beforehand.
The last contested elections show how far that can stretch. In January 2023, the House needed 15 ballots over five days, from Jan. 3 to Jan. 7.
McCarthy won the last one 216 to 212 over Jeffries. Six members voted “present,” the CRS tables show.
The House removed McCarthy that October. Jordan was the Republican nominee on the first three ballots and fell short each time.
Johnson won on the fourth, on Oct. 25, 2023, with 220 votes to Jeffries’ 209, CRS records. He won again in January 2025, 218 to 215.
Democrats should have more room than that. CBS News projected a “wide majority” for them, though counting continues. Our results story tracks the House races still uncalled.
Johnson keeps the gavel through the lame duck
Nothing changes in the chair before January. Johnson remains Speaker through the lame-duck session, and his speakership ends on Jan. 3, Blaze News noted. Until then he is still second in line to the presidency, a point AP made in its story.
His record in that chair is what Republicans now weigh. AP reported that he spoke with President Trump almost daily. He led passage of the GOP’s signature package of tax breaks and social-services cuts. He also sent lawmakers home to avoid embarrassing votes, AP said, including a recent effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
AP noted that Johnson had predicted Republicans would defy midterm history. They didn’t. The president’s party had lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms since 1946, as our look at midterm history found.
Here is who is in line for the top House jobs, based on reporting so far.
- Speaker (Democratic nominee): Hakeem Jeffries of New York, per AP.
- Republican leader: Steve Scalise, per his office, and Jim Jordan, per his letter.
- Republican whip: Tom Emmer, challenged by August Pfluger, per NBC.
- Other Democratic posts: no races announced in the reporting we reviewed.
House Republicans meet on Nov. 10 to choose between Scalise and Jordan. The Speaker vote follows on Jan. 3, 2027, when the 120th Congress convenes.