Mike Johnson’s Problems Are About to Get Even Worse

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives is under pressure as the party’s majority is deteriorating.

Ken Buck, a Colorado congressman, suddenly resigned last Tuesday, leaving his seat vacant from next week and shrinking the Republicans‘ slim majority in the House to 218 over 213. He had already announced his intention to retire from Congress at the end of his current term.

Buck’s resignation means that if the Republicans lose another member they might struggle to pass legislation in the chamber. The current number of votes needed to reach a majority is 217.

Meanwhile, a special election in New York’s 26th congressional district is set for April 30 to fill a vacant seat. Democratic incumbent Brian Higgins resigned to become president of Shea’s Performing Arts Center on February 2.

Tim Kennedy, the Democrat candidate, is expected to beat Gary Dickson, a retired FBI agent who is running for the Republicans, given the area is a Democratic stronghold. If Kennedy wins, there will be 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the House of Representatives, making it even harder for Johnson to pass legislation.

Newsweek contacted Johnson’s office by email to comment on this story.

“We certainly all recognize that this is a difficult seat,” Erie County GOP Chair Michael Kracker told Politico in February. It’s the state’s “bluest seat outside of New York City,” he said.

But Dickson “has proven that he can win in blue territory with a message of delivering for taxpayers,” Kracker said.

Since being elected as speaker of the House in October 2023, Johnson has had to contend with a number of challenges, including divisions over a series of funding bills that would send more aid to Ukraine and other countries.

There has also been public dissent from some of his colleagues, who said they are considering moving for a discharge petition against the Louisiana politician, and last week a number of Republicans publicly said they wouldn’t be attending a GOP event aimed at creating party unity.

Meanwhile, there are a number of moderate Republicans in the party who disagree with the party’s direction of travel and oppose Donald Trump, the nominee for the presidential election. Upon resigning, Buck teased that there may be more Republican resignations in the House of Representatives in the near future.