US House Speaker Mike Johnson will step down as Republican leader following his party’s crushing midterm election defeat, his spokesman confirmed to AFP Wednesday.
Johnson, the highest-ranking Republican in the United States after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, is second in the line of presidential succession.
“The days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over,” he declared in a letter to Democratic lawmakers.
The Louisiana Republican told staff of his decision Wednesday morning, a day after Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress in a sweeping rejection of Trump’s party and his policies.
Johnson won reelection to his Louisiana seat, and his decision does not mean he is immediately resigning as speaker or leaving Congress. Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries formally sought his colleagues’ support Wednesday to become the next speaker, a position he is widely expected to secure when the new Congress convenes in January.
The president praised Johnson’s leadership and said he would “stay out of” the race to find a successor, with the vote expected on Tuesday next week.
