Speaker Mike Johnson won’t run for minority leader, setting up GOP battle

The Hill ^ | June 4, 2026 | Sudiksha Kochi

[Miami Rebel]

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on a staff call Wednesday that he will not run for minority leader, according to two GOP staffers, heading off what will likely be a bitter fight over the party’s future in the next Congress as Republicans reel from a seismic election defeat.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are both expected to launch bids for minority leader, setting up a potentially contentious contest as Republicans grapple with their diminished standing.

Johnson has had a rocky tenure as Speaker, often marked by internal GOP fighting, a razor-thin margin and repeated challenges in keeping his conference united over government funding, the Iran war and other issues.

He was first elected to Congress in 2016, and he was elected as Speaker in 2023, succeeding former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Before taking on that role, he served as the vice chair of the House Republican Conference.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: congress; johnson; speaker

[spincaster]

Who cares.

[virgil]

Meanwhile, that absolute loser Thune is saying he wants to be minority leader

And Senate Republicans will give it to him. Republicans in Congress have the spine of a dead rotten mackerel.

[fella]

His work of destroying MAGA assigned to him by the Turtle is done.

The Turtle can also retire now that his dreams are fulfilled.

[Fury]

I believe Thune will stay.

Jim Jordan will run for Minority Leader.

[DenTetr0612]

Seems over the last decade, every Republican leader has been a SWAMP RAT

[Miami Rebel]

No one could have managed that caucus better. It fell in line behind the President time after time.

[Frank Drebin]

Those things sound dangerous! The “Republicans” had better work quickly and pass the SAVE America act to prevent all of that from happening.

[AuntB]

Jim Jordan attended Massie’s wedding and is thick with MTG and the traitors.

[bantam]

“Jim seems to like where he is at...so maybe Scalise will get the call.”
___________________________
Scalise??
Great, another leadership person rising into uber leadership.
It’s worked so well in the past, why not try it again!!!

[rarestia]

Johnson was a puppet and a lapdog for Trump. He followed the president around like a lost puppy instead of actually doing work in DC.

For the love of God I wish we’d ratify Article the First and stop with this BS. We’d be a solid red country in the House for the rest of time if we actually appropriated congressional representation based on the census. The Apportionment Act of 1929 was single-handedly one of the most disastrous pieces of legislation passed in the 20th century with the 17th amendment a very close second.

[Antoninus]

He followed the president around like a lost puppy instead of actually doing work in DC.

Ridiculous comment. Johnson actually got bills passed which died in the Senate because the Republican majority there was actually 15-20% crypto-Leftist in practice -- at least.

Thankfully, some of those creeps in the Senate had their careers ended last night. Hopefully a few more will be gone in 2028. No more false friends.

[Fledermaus]

But they love it.

[Fledermaus]

Rinos reward failure.

[Fledermaus]

Thune and Moskowski are up in 28.

Dump them.

[rarestia]

Are you contending that he did NOT follow Trump around? I could point you to at least a dozen videos where he was flying all over the country with him. You can cast aspersions at me all day, but it doesn’t change the facts.

Was Johnson better than recent speakers? Yes. But he wasn’t a great representative for his state or for the House.