Republicans Worry They Could Lose the House—Before the Election

When Republicans gained control of the House in November 2022, many in Washington wondered how they would be able to govern effectively with one of the slimmest majorities in history. Some Democrats even speculated if they might be able to take back the House before the term ended.

Sixteen months later, as the Republican majority has shrunk even further, House Speaker Mike Johnson is admitting that possibility. He told Fox News on Monday that there is a slim chance he could lose the speakership to Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries in the next few weeks amid a wave of early retirements. "That’s a risk,” Johnson said of Democrats taking control of the House.

Already three Republican lawmakers have resigned from their posts mid-term—Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Bill Johnson, and Ken Buck. A fourth Republican, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, is expected to step down in mid-April, bringing the party’s former nine-seat majority down to just 217-213 as Republicans lost a fifth seat after George Santos was expelled from the House.

frezik,

Do Democrats want to take the speakership at this point? They may not be able to get much done between now and the next congress, anyway. Why not let Republicans continue lopping their own limbs off with a chainsaw?

kbotc,

They can push proper funding bills through which would help calm investors and improve the economy/lower inflation which would help next election a ton.

SpruceBringsteen,

Because it might stop some Russians from doing the same to their neighbors?

xploit,

Wouldn’t surprise me the least if these early retirements were all planned so that Dems get house control few months before elections, can’t accomplish anything with it because bunch of them are just as useless (double agents?) as republicunts, and republicunts get to blame all the inactivity over these two years on dems and everyone will eat it up

Dkarma,

You absolutely want to control the house.

Can you idiots stop pretending “the GOP will say…” Is a valid excuse to not do something we were going to do.

The gop will always criticize the Democrats in bad faith no matter what. Stop fucking pretending otherwise.

Jaysyn,
Jaysyn avatar

These traitors deserve to lose much more than their majority.

shalafi,

I’m not so certain I’m having fun watching the GOP implode any longer. Laughed my ass off for some time, but as they get more desperate, they’re getting more radical.

Hyperreality,

They were getting more radical anyway.

crusa187,

Yeah of course, they’re going to try to take everything down with them as their party implodes. What else would you expect from such simpletons?

Kid_Thunder,

many in Washington wondered how they would be able to govern effectively with one of the slimmest majorities in history

Through diplomacy and compromise I'd imagine.

shadowspirit,

🤯 mindblown

Hazzia,

Bro they ain’t even able to govern effectively when they had a bigger margin, why are they only asking this question now

Asafum,

Not that I want them to win at all, but I think losing the house would be a godsend to the Republicans. It would be yet another fire under the asses of voters to “save America” from the Democrats…

I’m so sick of all of this. I’m so mad my candidate lost…

https://feddit.nl/pictrs/image/847c86d7-57f0-4976-bf59-6161ef088516.jpeg

FfaerieOxide,
FfaerieOxide avatar

Not that I want them to win at all, but I think losing the house would be a godsend to the Republicans. It would be yet another fire under the asses of voters to “save America” from the Democrats…

What would the Democrats even do if they won? Clean the courts? Nuke the filly? Voltron-up Ukraine?
Surprise of surprises they retake something before November what would they actually do, 14.3 the insurrections they still sit down with in the congressional cafeteria each day?

Remember in '06 when they got both chambers and instead of pulling out of Iraq they kept funding that shit and it took a woman committing a crime to get the Status Of Forces Agreement torn up?

Remember when they had a super majority in '10 and they still stripped a public option out the ACA because I guess they thought it was funny?

It's not like Democrats have gained any moral fortitude or political will since then since it's the same people.

To say nothing of the bad things they seem to actively want to do, what should someone reasonably expect of the Democrats if they did get a Jeffries gavel?

partial_accumen,

I think losing the house would be a godsend to the Republicans. It would be yet another fire under the asses of voters to “save America” from the Democrats…

How would that logic work?

GOP Reps: “You need to vote us Republicans in so we get majority control of Congress !”

GOP voters: “err, we did. You guys quit in massive droves after passing the least amount of legislation in history. So you didn’t do your jobs, then you quit, and you want us to vote you back in? Won’t you just quit again?”

EldritchFeminity,

They don’t care about what actually happens in the government. They would happily get torched under a flamethrower if they could hold a couple of immigrants down underneath them while it happens.

Or, as my grandfather used to say, and my boss when I was a teenager, “I’m a Republican. I vote for the nominee.”

Dagwood222,

Talk to a Boomer who was around in the 1970s, and they’ll bend your ear telling you about how they could live well off of minimum wage.

Then ask them if Reagan’s ‘trickle down’ ever worked for them. They’ll really go off telling you how great Reagan was.

[Apologies to all those who voted for Jimmy Carter et al]

hanrahan,
@hanrahan@slrpnk.net avatar

You’ve not met many republicans then ?

Soulg,

Mostly because republican voters are absolute dipshits with the memory of a goldfish who believe everything they’re told on right wing TV without a second thought

Jimmyeatsausage,

It would work the same way it’s worked for the last 30 years…Fox News will make some shit up and they’ll believe it.

treefrog,

You’re overestimating the memory of the average voter.

empireOfLove2,
@empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

you are making a massive fatal flaw in logic in this comment: you’re assuming repubitard voters have enough braincells to use logic, or object permanence from more than 1 week ago

they only ever react to whatever the current fox news outrage is

gravitas_deficiency,

lol

MagicShel,

I feel like 4 more retirements just to get it to a tie seems exceedingly unlikely.

quindraco,

You could read the article. The majority threshold is based on seats, not members.

The spate of early departures means that Republicans can soon only afford to lose one single vote when all lawmakers are present and voting, since 216 votes would constitute a majority.

MagicShel,

I get it’s about defects on individual votes, but Jeffries isn’t going to become speaker without an actual majority. Anything short of an actual majority just means Republican control of legislation becomes more tenuous, not that Democrats will take control.

Dagwood222,

It’s possible that a few Blue State GOPs would cross Party lines to vote for him.

Sampe quote. “I am a proud ronald Reagan Republican. I remember when Reagan and Tip O’Neil would fight over a bill, then reach a mutually acceptable compromise. I’ll happily step away from the likes of Lauren Bobert in the name of civility.”

MagicShel,

I’m not getting excited until it actually happens. I’m burnt out being edged by the news for almost 8 years that Trump was on the verge of being held accountable. I’m done. Hope it’ll happen, but I expect nothing and I expect this whole article to be a completely pointless waste of energy by the time elections roll around. I would fucking love to be wrong.

Dagwood222,

There’s an old joke about how to things come to complete ruin. Gradually, and then all at once.

kbotc,

Bobo’s out ill, soo… That threshold has been reached.

SkyezOpen,

So theoretically a dem could vote to vacate right now and they could potentially do it? Though I imagine Republicans would be incredibly offended they didn’t call the vote and uninamously vote against.

Astrealix,
@Astrealix@lemmy.world avatar

Honestly though, at the point where only two people would need to flip for the majority to go to the Democrats, it seems crazy that no one’s tried.

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