Mike Johnson’s House majority suffers crippling blow after GOP rep announces April exit

22 March 2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson's paper-thin majority has been evaporating steadily since he took the gavel in October. And now after the latest sudden retirement announcement, Johnson's plans to pass conservative legislation through the House of Representatives are essentially over.

On Friday, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) announced that he would not only be declining to seek another term in the House, but that he would be leaving Congress altogether within the month. And once Gallagher's departure is official, Johnson will only be able to afford one defection when whipping votes, making his job of uniting the majority that much more difficult.

"After conversations with my family, I have made the decision to resign my position as a member of the House of Representatives for Wisconsin's Eighth Congressional District effective April 19, 2024," Gallagher's press office stated on X/Twitter. "I've worked closely with House Republican leadership on this timeline and look forward to seeing Speaker Johnson appoint a new chair to carry out the important mission of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party."

Gallagher's announcement comes on the heels of Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colorado) leaving Congress officially this weekend, triggering a special election in his own district in Colorado's rural high plains region. And according to Ballotpedia's tally, Gallagher is the sixth House Republican to leave office early in the current meeting of Congress. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) left in January to accept a job as president of Youngstown State University. And after Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) won the special election in the district previously held by Rep. George Santos (R-New York), Democrats grew one vote closer to holding the speaker's gavel.

Interestingly, the special election for New York's 26th Congressional District will take place on April 30. A Democrat is expected to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Brian Higgins (D-New York), who left Congress in February to become president of Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York. Should Democrats prevail there, that would give House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) even more leverage.

Johnson may not even be speaker for much longer, after far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) filed a motion to vacate him on Friday. Both Greene and members of the fringe House Freedom Caucus are reportedly angry with Johnson working with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) became the first sitting speaker in US history to be removed from the position by his own party after eight Republicans and all Democrats voted for a similar motion to vacate. Like the motion against Johnson, McCarthy was removed from his position for working with Democrats to prevent the US government from defaulting on its debt.

Greene's motion may very well succeed if all Democrats are in full attendance and one more Republican votes to oust the speaker. The soonest the motion could come up would be in two weeks' time, when the House returns from a scheduled recess.

If Johnson is ousted from the speakership, Jeffries could very well replace him as speaker if all Democrats remain united in support of the minority leader and one more Republican casts their vote for him. And Democrats may recapture the House majority in November should they succeed in flipping several New York-based swing districts currently occupied by freshmen members of Congress battling for reelection under new maps.

Along with the news of Gallagher's impending departure from the House, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) announced she would be stepping down as chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Granger — who has been in office since 1997 — has already said she would not be seeking another term in Congress.

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