WASHINGTON — After a blue tidal wave swept them from power, House and Senate Republicans will try Tuesday to pick up the pieces and select their leadership teams for the new Congress.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has already responded to his party’s call for new blood, announcing that he would renounce his bid for minority leader and step down from leadership. But other Republican leaders in both chambers are fighting to retain power following last week’s historic midterm defeat.
Home: Scalise vs. Jordan
In the House, Johnson’s decision sparked a two-way race for minority leader. Johnson’s trusted top lieutenant and fellow Louisiana Republican, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, is fending off a challenge from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and the founding chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
Both are allies of President Donald Trump and ran unsuccessfully for president in 2023 after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. The elections will take place behind closed doors and by secret ballot. Candidates will present their arguments at the conference starting at 9 a.m. ET, with voting in the afternoon.
Scalise argued to colleagues that he could unify factions of House Republicans against the arrival of “socialists” in Washington, while Jordan, a former Oversight Committee chairman, argued that he was best suited to fight Democratic investigations into the Trump administration and its allies, telling colleagues that he was “tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook.”
Either will need a majority of the conference to vote in their favor to get the job.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., is seeking the whip post, the party’s top vote-getter and the No. 2 position in the minority. But he faces an insurgent challenge from August Pfluger of Texas, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus at the Capitol.
And House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain of Michigan is trying to fend off challenges from two colleagues: Indiana’s Erin Houchin, who serves in a lower-level leadership position, and Florida’s Greg Steube, who has chastised the current leadership team for choosing “accommodation over conviction.”
“We’re ready to move on. We need a pivot,” a Republican House lawmaker who supports Jordan over Scalise told NBC News, speaking on condition of anonymity, to speak candidly about the rival candidates. “Everything is on the table” after the Democrats’ landslide victory, the lawmaker said.
Senate: Thune faces discontent
Senate Republicans are also preparing to hold a closed-door vote Tuesday to choose their leaders. Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota is running for minority leader and so far no one has announced plans to oppose him.
But a small group of Republican senators sought to delay the election, saying the party needed more time to process the election results.
“A week ago, we had the worst election result in decades. We need a discussion about what went wrong, how to fix it, what we stand for and how our agenda should focus on the concerns of the American people,” Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., said in a statement.
“As I shared with Leader Thune, I do not believe we should proceed to a leadership election until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward,” he said. “We need leadership in place quickly, but Tuesday is too early. »
Five other Senate Republicans, led by Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, sent a letter to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton of Arkansas, asking for “a thorough discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead” before Tuesday morning’s election.
As in the House, senators’ votes are by secret ballot and candidates must obtain a simple majority of the conference to win.
Besides Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Cotton is expected to win his election to remain second and third Republicans in the next Congress.
Jeffries and Schumer favorites to lead the Democrats
After last week’s Democratic rout, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats from New York, are the favorites to be the next House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader.
But they too face grumbling from rank-and-file members.
No one has emerged to challenge for the top jobs, either, although Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, opened the door Monday to a possible run for majority leader, amid grassroots pressure to find an alternative to Schumer.
A person familiar with Van Hollen’s thinking told NBC News on Monday: “The senator has received a wave of calls to run for majority leader and is now in active listening mode. The door is not closed.”
At the orientation session for new members of the Senate on Monday, Democrats said the issue of their leadership team had not come up in private conversations.
“Most of us are just trying to figure out where our office is and how to find the restrooms,” said Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan, D-Minn. “It’s really exciting to be here and meet a lot of my colleagues who campaigned. I know how hard we worked. And to be here together, it’s really exciting.”
As for Van Hollen’s potential run for majority leader, Flanagan said she was “certainly open to new leadership” but was “not ready to make any commitments at this point.”
Senate Democrats will elect their leadership team in a private meeting in early December, while House Democrats will choose their team next week.
Several progressives said they were undecided about whether to support Jeffries for president, as grassroots groups urge the party to confront Trump more aggressively and adopt progressive policies.
“We’re not withholding votes. What we’re doing (is) saying we’re undecided,” said Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy, D-N.J. “We want to sit down and have a conversation about the issues and what the plan is for the future.”
But Jeffries has such a large majority — NBC News projects Democrats will take 259 seats — that he can afford about 40 defections and still win the 218 votes needed to become House speaker on Jan. 3.
“We’re going to work as hard as we can to get to 218, and we’re confident we’ll get to that number and beyond,” Jeffries told reporters when asked about disgruntled progressives.
Jeffries and his top lieutenants, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Pete Aguilar of California and Ted Lieu of California, are running unopposed so far for the four key leadership positions: speaker, majority leader, majority whip and Democratic caucus chairman.
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