Congress

Many of the speaker’s critics would prefer to air their disappointment with him after Election Day. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ouster effort is raising the tension.

A growing group of Republicans predict Mike Johnson will either step aside or be thrown out if they lose the majority this fall. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

By Olivia Beavers

04/18/2024 06:47 PM EDT

Link Copied

Mike Johnson’s speakership is reaching its most vulnerable point yet, with House GOP discontent spreading beyond the conservatives whose fury has spiked over his handling of a foreign aid plan that will need major Democratic help to pass.

The Republicans who are most clearly positioned to step in if Johnson falls from power, though — whether that happens this year or after Election Day — are the same three who tried and and failed to get the gavel back in October: Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Republican lawmakers started identifying the jockeying months ago, as POLITICO first reported. But as the GOP conference attempts to stay focused on Election Day, the ouster effort led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is shining a new spotlight on the posturing.

About half of the more than two dozen House Republicans interviewed for this story said they had noticed signs of senior colleagues trying to earn chits for a possible rise in the leadership ranks. The very fact that his own members see rivals scheming to replace him before an ouster vote puts Johnson’s shaky standing with his conference on stark display — though it also raises serious questions about whether Scalise, Emmer or Jordan can make a successful second run at leading the at-times ungovernable conference.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a former chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said the posturing extends beyond those three members, pointing to favor-currying by “people that might even surprise you.” He declined to name names.

While colleagues are closely watching Scalise, Emmer and Jordan, the biggest scrutiny is falling........

© Politico