House Speaker Mike Johnson has warned his party that the Republican majority in the House is at risk amid poaching by the incoming Trump administration.
Republicans are projected to maintain control of the House of Representatives, having won the 218 seats required to hold overall control of the chamber, while the Democrats hold 208 seats, according to NBC News.
But amid their very small majority, and with nine races still uncalled, Republican leadership now fears they could lose their majority if President-elect Donald Trump keeps selecting members of Congress to his cabinet.
“It’s a great problem to have,” Johnson told Fox News on Thursday. “We have an embarrassment of riches in the House Republican Congress. Lots of talented people who are very attuned to the America First agenda, and they can serve the country well in other capacities.”
“But I’ve told President Trump, enough already, give me some relief. I have to maintain this majority. And he understands that, of course, we’ve been talking about it almost hourly every day,” he said, adding that the Republicans “will have a majority.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s transition team for comment via email.
Trump has nominated at least three Republican members of Congress to his Cabinet so far. That includes Florida Representative Mike Waltz, who has been picked as national security adviser, and New York Representative Elise Stefanik, who has been nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz was also nominated yesterday to be attorney general, resigning from Congress immediately after the announcement despite still requiring Senate confirmation for the role.
According to the Washington Post, North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx and Florida Representative Byron Donalds are potential candidates for secretary of Education. Foxx won her district by 19 points, and Donalds won his by 33 points.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie has hinted that he is open to becoming the secretary of Agriculture.
When an elected representative vacates their position to take up a cabinet position, a special election is held in their district. Every state has different laws for how quickly these elections are held, but they typically take months. With Gaetz being the only House member who has resigned, Johnson has estimated that his seat could be filled by January 3, when the new Congress convenes.
But even so, Republicans could still face delays in filling the vacancies lost to Trump’s cabinet. This would potentially delay the time before a Republican House could start passing laws or give Democrats a chance to further narrow the Republican margin—or even win back the House majority.
“Every single vote will count because if someone gets ill or has a car accident or a late flight on their plane, then it affects the votes on the floor,” Johnson said at a news conference on Tuesday. He added that the president-elect “fully understands and appreciates the math here, and it’s just a numbers game.”
CBS projects that the final number of Republican House seats will likely fall between 220 and 222.
Republicans also won control of the Senate, with 53 seats to the Democrats’ 47. However, they are short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.
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