House Speaker Mike Johnson (R)
Despite pleas from House Speaker Mike Johnson that he stay on, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher followed through on his plans to resign from Congress on Saturday. The direct result of Gallagher’s departure is that Johnson can now afford just a single GOP defection on any given vote. That in turn means Johnson, who is already heavily dependent on Democrats to pass any legislation, will grow even more reliant on them.
The math—if you’re Johnson—is grim. With Gallagher gone, Republicans hold just 217 seats in the House while Democrats have 213. On a strict party-line vote, then, if one Republican joins with Democrats, the final tally would be as narrow as it gets: 216-214 in favor of the GOP.
But if two Republicans side with Democrats, then it’s a 215-215 tie—and in the House, a tie is the same as a loss. In fact, we just saw that happen just recently, when an amendment to a surveillance bill failed after deadlocking on the House floor.
Johnson long ago lost control of his caucus, if he ever had it in the first place. Far-right dissidents have repeatedly sunk procedural votes that until now had virtually never failed. Johnson has had to rely on parliamentary maneuvers to bypass these implacable extremists, but those maneuvers mean he needs Democrats to bail him out again and again.
And now the House GOP is on the verge of falling into even deeper disarray. Recent news reports say that more Republican resignations could be coming, and a move to oust Johnson as speaker is gaining steam. Following Saturday’s successful foreign aid votes—which once again saw the speaker forge a coalition with Democrats to pass critical legislation—Johnson’s right flank is more enraged than ever.
Whatever happens next, the chaos in the ranks of House Republicans will only further serve to remind voters in November that only the Democrats are capable of governing the country. In fact, you could even say that they already are.
