Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said that despite the fact that Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) once again voted in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump, now president-elect of the United States. Spent time, money, and resources campaigning for the re-election of Congressman (R-Wash.) in Washington State. state.
Remarkably, Mr. Newhouse's seat was not in danger of falling into Democratic hands, so Mr. Johnson cannot legitimately claim that he did so to protect the House Republican majority. Johnson himself did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent to Breitbart News through his advisers Hogan Gidley and Taylor Halsey. We ran a campaign for New House. The election was held in October, just two weeks before the election, even though Newhouse voted to impeach Trump and Democrats had zero chance of winning the seat. The fact that the Chair himself refuses to answer questions or provide commentary on this is troubling at best.
But Halsey issued a statement as the Speaker's press secretary making it clear that Johnson believes it is acceptable for there to be Republicans in the House Republican Conference who support impeaching Trump. “Speaker Johnson is working in 40 different states during a round-the-clock, year-long campaign to secure a House Republican majority that will pass President Trump's policies to secure the border and restore America's energy dominance. We've held more than 360 campaign events in the United States,” Halsey told Breitbart News. “The Speaker of the House fought hard for every sitting member from Congressman Scott Perry to Congressman Dan Newhouse.”
Newhouse was one of 10 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote in favor of impeaching Trump in early 2021, his second impeachment during his first term. He is one of only two remaining in Congress. Another is Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), who appears to have survived another tough re-election battle on the West Coast. Unlike in Mr. Newhouse's case, in Mr. Valadao's case, the Republicans who supported him had a legitimate argument that they needed to support him because Democrats would have won the seat if he hadn't supported him. are. Mr. Valadao's district is much greener than most Republicans on the Republican front lines, but that's due to the fact that Liz Valadao, who supported and campaigned for the unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, That's why other members of Congress, like former Rep. Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Rep. Adam Adam, survived. Kinzinger (R-Illinois) and others lost.
However, in Mr. Newhouse's case this year, given Washington state's jungle primary system, the general election was decided between two Republicans who advanced to the November race. Mr. Newhouse's opponent in the general election was Jerrod Sessler, an area businessman and former racing driver, a Republican supported by Mr. Trump. So in the end, if Newhouse had lost on November 5th, Sessler would have been the winner and Democrats would have had zero chance of winning this seat.
Johnson was not the only one to campaign for Newhouse despite voting in favor of impeaching President Trump. The same goes for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who spent his precious weeks leading up to the election actually visiting the Newhouse district and spending money and resources on the Newhouse campaign. This likely means that other Republican candidates who lost close races were defeated. We will further strengthen their support.
House Republicans do not yet have a majority, but Decision Desk headquarters has confirmed that at this point they will receive 216 of the 218 seats needed to maintain their hold. Republicans are in the lead in the remaining races, and a deal is likely to be reached this week. But instead of wasting time campaigning for New House, what if Mr. Johnson had spent more time in Virginia's 7th District, New Mexico's 2nd District, Maine's 2nd District, etc.? Republicans may already have a majority. The Republican candidate was defeated. In all three of these races, and several others, they had good chances to win.
It's unclear what may or may not happen in Mr. Johnson's personal future. The highly vulnerable chairman survived a motion to resign this summer after betraying Republicans by passing billions of dollars in foreign aid spending and sending more American treasure to Ukraine. The motion was brought forward as Democrats banded together to muster enough votes to save Johnson's gavel, but when McCarthy was ousted in the fall, he rebelled against Kevin McCarthy. It would have passed even without Democratic support because more Republicans than Republicans rebelled against Johnson. In 2023.
Mr. Johnson's fate will very likely depend on what the eventual House Republican majority will be once the final congressional elections are called and certified. The House majority may be smaller or slightly larger than in past Congresses, but if Mr. Johnson loses even a few House Republicans in the inevitable Speaker vote at the beginning of the next Congress; There is a possibility of losing your footing. as a speaker. The first task a new parliament must accomplish before considering anything else is electing a speaker. To win the gavel in this mandatory election, Johnson needs to receive 218 votes on the House floor. So subtract 218 from the final total of House Republican seats and assume all members show up and vote for someone on the first day. If Johnson loses many Republicans in the new Congress, he will fail in the speaker's race. Republicans repeated this process for more than a week at the beginning of the last Congress, and it took 15 votes to ultimately elect McCarthy as Speaker. Mr Johnson could be in an even weaker position in January, but that remains to be seen.
Mr. Johnson has made every effort in recent weeks, including before and after the election, to warm up to Mr. Trump, who has spoken highly of him. There is a possibility that Mr. Trump will support Mr. Johnson, and an endorsement could be enough to win him back as prime minister. But a significant number of House Republicans are furious with Johnson, including several close to Trump. Again, the only reason he is Speaker today is because Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, rescued Mr. Johnson with a motion to resign. Trump's support alone may not be enough as voters vote this summer. This has become a notable and large-scale battle, with conservative and pro-Trump House members using the process to oust Mr. Johnson and aligning them more with Mr. Trump's policies than Mr. Johnson, a Republican supporter of impeachment. They could elect a better Speaker of the House.
