House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is increasingly drawing the anger and frustration of rank-and-file Republican lawmakers who are tired of him denying their party is in any trouble in next year's midterms, NOTUS reported on Wednesday morning.
"The tension between GOP members and House Republican leadership has been brewing for a while, but it was especially evident in Tuesday’s closed-door conference meeting," wrote Oriana González and Reese Gorman. According to the report, "Some lawmakers ... scoffed at several of Speaker Mike Johnson’s talking points. Johnson told members at the meeting that he expects Republicans to not only retain the majority in 2026, but expand it, another source said."
In response, one anonymous lawmaker told NOTUS, “And I believed I was going to date the prom queen.”
"The private sniping is somewhat normal, but now some Republicans are also publicly airing out their grievances," the report continued, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and her public war with Johnson to get an anti-FBI provision added back into the annual defense authorization bill.
Almost immediately after Johnson's assurances on Tuesday, the House GOP got a reality check in Tennessee, as they only managed a single-digit victory in a special election to retain a seat President Donald Trump carried by 22 points last year, despite spending millions of dollars on the race to boost turnout in the final stretch.
And the inability of the GOP caucus to hold things together isn't helping, the report said.
"An October Gallup poll found that the public’s approval of Congress has sunk to just 15%, an 11-percentage-point drop from September’s numbers. Rep. Kevin Kiley told NOTUS there’s 'good reason' for those low marks," continued the report. "Between Johnson keeping the House out of session during the shutdown, the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, the upcoming January appropriations fight, the back-and-forth censure wars and the ongoing discharge petitions to circumvent Johnson, 'there’s plenty of blame to go around' for Congress’ 'dysfunction,' Kiley said."