Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) believes there should be more than one person in the race for House speaker to avoid a “Soviet-style” election following reports that hardline conservatives are hoping to find a challenger for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
So far, Johnson is the only person seeking the speaker’s gavel after alerting his fellow Republican colleagues that he would seek another term as the House’s top leader. However, his Republicans’ right flank, a thorn in Johnson’s side for much of 2024, is hinting that the speaker will face opposition to reelection on Wednesday.
“Last I looked, this is America and having two people in a race is kind of the norm. We could do this Soviet-style or we can do it American-style,” Harris said.
When asked who would be nominated, he told reporters, “I can’t get into any of that.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a member of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters that it “seems likely” Johnson will face a challenger on Wednesday, when GOP members prepare to hold leadership elections. Aside from a possible speakership challenge, the most competitive race will be that of House Republican Conference chair.
The current chair, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), is set to become ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in.
When asked if he would challenge Johnson, Roy said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We will see.”
A challenge to Johnson’s speakership is not surprising given the level of GOP infighting that has plagued the Republican conference in the 118th Congress. With a razor-thin majority, Johnson often faced pushback on legislation such as government spending or foreign aid from a handful of conservatives that forced the speaker to turn to Democrats for support.
The bipartisan passage of policies prompted Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) to support a motion to vacate Johnson as speaker in May, though the effort failed on the floor when a majority of the House voted to table the issue.
Both Greene and Massie have expressed that they do not think Johnson should stay speaker of the House in the new Congress, where Republicans are projected to have a majority as small or smaller than the one they currently possess.
Greene said she was not aware of the effort to challenge Johnson in leadership elections this week, telling the Washington Examiner she could not commit to supporting a replacement candidate without knowing who it was.
However, she expressed frustration with GOP leadership and its minimal gains in the House after the 2024 elections, pointing to Trump’s popular vote win that was not mirrored in the House elections.
“We should have a supermajority right now, and we don’t have one. And I think that’s because of the failures of this Congress,” Greene said. “This Republican-controlled majority did not [push for Trump’s agenda] in the past few years. They were tone deaf to what people wanted.”
Not all Republicans are thrilled with the idea of a speakership challenge, particularly after the House went three weeks without a speaker following the ousting of Kevin McCarthy and Republicans could not find consensus.
“We won,” one House Republican told the Washington Examiner. “They should be happy and not f*** it up.”
Another Republican told the Washington Examiner that hard-line conservatives are “sending a message.”
“Why? Who the eff knows,” the lawmaker said.
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Electing McCarthy to the speakership in 2023 took 15 rounds, partly because conservatives wanted concessions on House rules, such as a one-member threshold to file a motion to vacate the speaker.
Any challenge to Johnson’s speakership is not likely to be a serious bid; instead, it will likely serve as an opportunity to force him into additional concessions. Harris said that he thinks the motion to vacate threshold should remain a “reasonable number close to one,” while other more centrist GOP lawmakers have wanted to raise the threshold since McCarthy was ousted.