Mike Johnson hints he could step down if Democrats win House

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Oct 8, 2026

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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday hinted he could quit Congress if Democrats win the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections.

With Democrats favored to retake control of the House, Johnson sounded very much undecided on whether he would stick around as GOP minority leader for the next two years.

“Heaven forbid, if we lose this majority or whatever, I don’t know what my next chapter of life is,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News.

Johnson previously refused to address a hypothetical scenario of Republicans’ losing the midterms and projected confidence. This time, he floated the idea of returning to Louisiana and perhaps leaving the political arena altogether.

“If God moves on our hearts and says we should, you know, go back to my hometown of Shreveport and start a lawn business, I’ll do that with equal fervor,” he said. “I mean, I just want to be of my highest and best use to God and to my country.”

The startlingly candid admission by Johnson only underlines the desperate political climate congressional Republicans are facing in the final month before election day on Nov. 3.

With Trump’s approval ratings at historic lows, most nonpartisan pundits say Democrats are almost certain to flip the handful of seats it would take to retake the House and install Brooklyn’s Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as the first Black Speaker of the House.

The Senate, on the other hand, is still considered up for grabs, with Democrats likely needing to flip four GOP-held seats to win control.

Johnson, a five-term incumbent, emerged from relative obscurity to win the gavel in 2023 after an ugly Republican factional civil war between far-right conservatives and relative moderates who backed Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

The warring wings of the GOP wound up settling on Johnson after passing over more senior figures like Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

If Johnson does step down, it would likely spark another internecine fight for the minority leader spot, although the stakes would be considerably lower with the party out of power.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has said he plans to run for another term as majority leader and says he is confident the GOP will hold on to control of the chamber in the midterms.

Both leaders could find themselves in the crosshairs of an angry Trump after the election if their party loses as badly as some polls predict.

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