House Republicans divided over how to move forward after brutal election losses

House Republicans are divided over how to move forward after the party’s devastating election losses, with some calling for an overhaul of the current leadership team and others arguing that President Trump bears much of the blame.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told staff on a call Wednesday that he would not run for minority leader, setting the stage for a potentially bruising contest between House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for the top post.

Meanwhile, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and House GOP conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) are seeking to retain their leadership positions as the party transitions to the minority.

But Emmer faces a challenge from Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger (R-Texas), while Reps. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.) are challenging McClain.

House Republicans are looking to sharpen their messaging strategy, effectively counter the Democrats’ agenda and position the party to win back the majority in 2028. Some conservatives say that will require new leaders to chart the path forward, rather than the old guard.

“I think if we send up the same leadership team that led us to the slaughter, we will look like clowns,” a GOP lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Hill. “You know, I mean, so you have to make change. Does that mean they all have to change? I’m not saying that. But you can’t have the same team.”

The lawmaker argued that GOP leaders failed to effectively communicate the party’s accomplishments and painted an overly optimistic picture of how Republicans would perform in the midterms.

“I think voters are upset. They expected us to go and fight for them, and then they saw us work on things like name, image, and likeness, or you know, or cryptocurrency reform, or whatever stuff that had nothing to do with making their lives better, and voters concluded we just didn’t care about them,” the lawmaker said.

A second GOP lawmaker echoed those sentiments, arguing the current leadership team didn’t take up bills he thought were important and veered away from conservative values to appease other factions of the conference, including moderates.

“We need all new leadership, top to bottom,” the lawmaker said. “And I’ve talked to several members that have said they will not vote for anybody else, anybody currently in leadership.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) took aim at the House GOP leadership team in a post on the social platform X , accusing it of fighting her efforts to advance a ban on stock trading, permanently prohibit the creation of a central bank digital currency and reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Jordan, co-founder of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, has emerged as a favorite among some House Republicans.

“I think we’re going into a wartime situation where we are going to be the rebel alliance, and we’re going to need someone who knows how to fight, and Jim Jordan knows how to do that,” the first GOP lawmaker said.

But other Republicans argue that Scalise is better positioned to take the top spot, given his current leadership role. Scalise initially won the Republican nomination to be Speaker in 2023, beating Jordan in a secret ballot vote. But he withdrew from the race when it became clear he would not win enough support from his conference to get the votes needed on the House floor.

Jordan was later chosen as the nominee for Speaker, but he repeatedly fell short of the votes needed to secure the gavel.

“Steve is the right guy for the job. Plain and simple. He’s a tried and tested leader, who has the experience to lead House Republicans for the next two years, and the chops to reclaim the majority in 2028,” a third GOP member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

“I think for Scalise … it’d be an easy transition for him to step into that. But for Jordan, he’s really — how do I phrase this? He’s been a loyal soldier. He’s rallied people well, and he’s an effective politician. So I think both would do well in the role, but I think Scalise would have an easier transition just out of pure — his House leadership currently,” a GOP staffer told The Hill last month.

Republicans are also split over the races for minority whip and GOP conference chair, with some backing incumbents Emmer and McClain, respectively, while others are throwing their support behind the challengers.

“I think Pfluger has done an excellent job as RSC chair, but to his credit, Emmer at least is a warrior. He’s a fighter. He’s a battler, and that’s what we’re going to need. So you know that’s a tough call,” the first GOP lawmaker said.

A fourth GOP lawmaker said the blame for a seismic election loss shouldn’t go to current House leaders but to the president.

“I mean, this is all on the president, and this war, and so the reason this, I mean, this blue tsunami happened and wiped out the Republican Party is because Trump wanted to protect his child rapist friends in the Epstein files, and then started a war with Iran, and that is why we’re in this situation. So I blame the man at the top. I don’t blame leadership,” the lawmaker said.

“I don’t think Mike Johnson actually deserves a lot of criticism, and then you know you’ve got Scalise and Emmer running, as what I’ve been told. I mean, they were the same guys that had been there. I don’t have a problem with that. … I don’t blame them at all. They were dealt a really s—ty hand,” the lawmaker said.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a centrist who is retiring at the end of his term, characterized the 2026 midterms as a “referendum on President Trump,” adding that candidates vying to be GOP leader would be as pro-Trump as Johnson was, regardless of who’s chosen.

“If you show me somebody that would push back a little bit and say, ‘Hey, Republicans have always been the party of free markets and free trade. Why are we going back on that? Why are we treating our allies bad?’ But all we saw was people accommodating the president’s worst instincts,” Bacon said Tuesday. “And so somebody who says that … we [should] have a new leader. OK, what would you have done differently over the last two years, and push back on some of this stuff? I hear from a lot of swing voters that they wanted Congress to be a check and balance to the worst, you know, egregious things that Trump does, but they didn’t see it.”

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he would “stay out of” the race to pick a new House Republican leader after Johnson said he wouldn’t run.