House GOP leaders are moving quickly to lock down their positions atop the conference as Republicans look poised to keep the majority. Internal leadership elections are scheduled next week, and we’re expecting a drama-free process — as long as Republicans remain in the majority.
Speaker Mike Johnson formally launched his bid for the speaker’s gavel with a “Dear Colleague” letter Wednesday, arguing Republicans have a mandate to govern and need to be ready to deliver “for the people on day one.”
We don’t expect a significant challenge to Johnson, who has tied himself at the hip with President-elect Donald Trump.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise also sent around a letter announcing his intentions to run again for the No. 2 spot, promising to work closely with Trump to enact his agenda in the first 100 days.
Scalise told us in an interview that he spent the last two years “working hard to unite our conference, even with a small majority, that showed what we stood for in the face of really bad policies” from the Biden administration on the economy, border security and energy policy. Now with Trump’s victory and Republicans seizing control of Congress, “We have a real chance to do something about it.”
Scalise said House Republicans want to pass a major reconciliation package within the first 100 days of the new Congress on taxes and other other issues. “We’ll stretch reconciliation as far as it can go,” Scalise insisted.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer started making calls on Wednesday to ask for members’ support for the whip job, according to a source familiar. Emmer will also send this “Dear Colleague” letter to lawmakers later today.
In the letter, Emmer vows to “always be direct, honest, and transparent” and “never make false promises or try to buy your votes.”
Again, there are a lot of things you can say about each of this trio. We’ve written endlessly about them over the past decade or so. But we are hard-pressed to see how anyone can credibly challenge them in the conference election next week.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik doesn’t have a letter out quite yet. She is angling for ambassador to the United Nations, but sources close to her say she’ll run for conference chair again. Team Trump seems hesitant to tap her for anything if Republicans have a narrow margin in the House.
Also: House Republican leaders will hold a political conference call at 11 a.m. today to brief members on the election results. House Democrats will hold a caucus call at noon.
