The Louisiana Republican announced on Wednesday morning on an all-staff call that he will not run for House minority leader for the new Congress next year, following Tuesday’s historical Democratic landslide takeover of the House of Representatives.
It’s not clear yet if Johnson has anointed a successor to lead the Republican caucus. Representative Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has already thrown his hat into the ring and announced he’s running for House minority leader. According to Punchbowl News, Jordan’s pitch will be that new blood is needed and that he specializes in investigations.
The current number two Republican in the House, Representative Steve Scalise, also announced that he is running for caucus leader.
Yes, and Importantly, covered it up for years. Which is exactly what the Republicans want right now. The Dem leadership is definitely going to use their powers to investigate all the shit the Republicans have been covering up, including that. Actually going after the pedophiles the Republicans have been hyping their base up about for the last decade or so is a good way to maintain some support from voters that crossed over this election. The Dems don’t have an issue cleaning their own house, even when it isn’t really warranted like Al Franken, so it’s not really a threat for them.
And exposing the pedophile members of Congress is a good way to start cleaning house. Congress can expel members, and while generally uncommon other than the Confederates expelled in 1861/1862, in the House, James Traficant was expelled in 2002 and George Santos was expelled in 2023. In the Senate, John Ensign was going to be expelled in 2011 but he chose to resign before that happened. It’s uncommon, but isn’t some long lost capability no one knows about anymore.