Weeks after saying he’d ‘stay and lead,’ Mike Johnson bows out as contenders jockey for top House GOP post 

Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly will not seek to lead House Republicans after Tuesday’s blue wave eviscerated the GOP’s House majority, reversing his October intention to “stay and lead.”

Johnson shared his decision with staffers Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana announced plans to run for House minority leader in the 120th Congress.

Johnson told CBS News in an interview published Oct. 12, “I intend to stay and lead.”

“If, heaven forbid, we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would call upon me to continue to lead the conference in divided government,” Johnson said.

Days earlier, Johnson told Fox News that if Republicans lost the majority, he would try to serve God and country as best he could.

“If God moves on our hearts and says we should, you know, go back to my hometown of Shreveport and start a lawn business, I’ll do that with equal fervor,” he said. Johnson’s spokesman, Lance Trover, said speculation about Johnson’s “potential future in the lawn care business is hilarious.”

“Throughout my whole life, my number one objective is to be of my highest and best use to God and to my country, and that’s always what I’ve thought,” Johnson told CBS News. “And I was trying to make the point that if God has a different design, then we’ll follow that. But what I believe is, I’m going to be the speaker of the House for at least two more years.”

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have acknowledged that the Iran war and its related cost increases contributed to the GOP’s devastating loss.

Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to Heartlander News’ request for comment.