Mike Johnson says midterm losses prompted his House leadership exit

Chris Van Hollen challenges Schumer for Senate Democratic leadership

Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, said Saturday that his party’s losses in the 3 November midterm elections prompted his decision to step away from party leadership, in his first interview since the elections. “Leaders have to take responsibility when things go wrong,” Johnson said on Fox News. He said he reached the decision “pretty quickly after election night,” and he informed aides on 4 November that he would not seek re-election to the House leadership.

Johnson described the effort Republicans made to hold their position. “We worked around the clock, left it all on the field to win. We had to defy history, as you and I both know, it’s only happened twice in 90 years, but we did everything that we could to make that happen,” Johnson said. He added that this was a year in which history was not defied.

“We don’t like the results,” Johnson said. “But, real leadership, I’ve always believed, you lead from the front, and leaders have to take responsibility when things go wrong whether it’s individually deserved or not, that’s part of it.” He added: “I’m going to remain in this fight, but from a role different than as minority leader in the next Congress.”

Republicans suffered historic losses in this year’s midterm elections, with Democrats flipping key seats in Republican strongholds, including Texas, to seize control of both the Senate and the House.

The Guardian, which reported the interview, noted that Johnson’s accounting stood in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who the newspaper reported has deflected all responsibility for the losses suffered by his party. Those losses included defeats for at least 10 Republican Senate candidates in states where Trump held rallies in the closing weeks of the campaign — a number that could rise to 11 should Alaska’s incumbent Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, be defeated. The Senate race in Alaska has not yet been called.

As the count stands, Democrats will have at least 55 Senate seats and Republicans 44 when the new Congress convenes on 3 January. In the House, Democrats will have at least 256 seats, while Republicans will have at least 169. Each party leads in four of the eight House races where votes are still being counted, and the final two seats will be determined in runoff elections next month in Louisiana.

House Republicans on Tuesday elected Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio to replace Johnson next year, when Republicans will be the minority party in both chambers of Congress. Senate Republicans re-elected Senator John Thune of South Dakota to continue as their leader.

Democrats have not yet voted on who will lead their party in the House and Senate when the new Congress convenes in January. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the current House minority leader, is expected to become the nation’s first Black speaker of the House, while Senator Chuck Schumer, also of New York, currently leads Senate Democrats.

The contest for Senate leadership has intensified in recent days after Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland announced a challenge to Schumer for the position.

“In this election, the American people called for change. They called for a change from Donald Trump’s disastrous policies – but even bigger than that, a change from the status quo that isn’t working for working people,” Van Hollen said. “It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership. This is not about any one person – it’s about answering the call of the American people. That is why I’m running for Senate Majority leader.”

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont, said this week that he would not support Schumer’s bid to serve as the Democratic leader in the Senate, saying “the time is now for change.” Sanders then endorsed Van Hollen and outlined the stakes of that contest in a Guardian opinion article.

Senate Democrats are scheduled to hold a closed-door vote on 1 December. In the House, Jeffries does not face a challenger, though he has faced resistance from some members of his party, including several Democrats elected earlier this month.