Friday, 13 December 2024

DEVELOPING: Mike Johnson To Face Challenge For House Speakership?


Multiple outlets report that House conservatives expect a challenge to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) during Wednesday’s internal House GOP elections.

Although Johnson is favored to retain the gavel, conservatives reportedly plan to nominate an alternative candidate.

From The Hill:

The sources said they are still discussing whom to nominate, and one source cautioned that the opposition could fall apart.

“There will be a nomination,” one of the sources said.

The intent is to show opposition within the House GOP to Johnson’s bid to continue as Speaker, one of the sources said.

The House GOP is set to consider Johnson for Speaker during internal GOP elections on Wednesday.

Johnson has been bullish on his chances of retaining the gavel, especially with President-elect Trump — who has spoken highly of him in the past — on his way to the White House.

Per Axios:

Johnson survived a leadership challenge in May after passing an aid package for Ukraine on suspension. Democrats ultimately helped block the motion to vacate against Johnson’s leadership.

Johnson have a tiny majority at best in January.

If the current projections hold, the GOP will start the year with a two-vote margin until special elections are held to replace Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Waltz, both bound for administration positions.

“It wasn’t Republicans that saved Mike Johnson, it was Democrats,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said earlier this year.

“Mike Johnson is owned by the Democrats and refuses to protect President Trump even though he runs down to Mar-a-Lago every chance he gets and hugs him as tightly as possible,” she added.

WATCH:

From the Associated Press earlier this year:

House Democrats will vote to save Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s job should some of his fellow Republican lawmakers seek to remove him from the position, Democratic leaders said Tuesday, likely assuring for now that Johnson will avoid being ousted from office like his predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Johnson, R-La., has come under heavy criticism from some Republicans for moving forward with aid for Ukraine as part of a $95 billion emergency spending package that passed this month. It would take only a handful of Republicans to remove Johnson from the speakership if the Democratic caucus went along with the effort.

But Democratic leaders took that possibility off the table.

“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” said a statement from the top three House Democrats, Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar. “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”


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