WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 4, 2026 — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, told his staff Wednesday morning that he won't stay on as Republican leader in the new Congress, NBC News reported, citing four sources on the call. USA TODAY and AP also reported that he won't run for minority leader. Punchbowl News first reported the decision, according to NBC.

Within hours, the leader of the incoming majority made his own move. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, sent a "Dear Colleague" letter formally asking Democrats to back him for speaker. If he's elected, AP reports he'd be the first Black speaker of the House.

Who's running to lead House Republicans

Johnson's step back leaves the job of House minority leader open. NBC reported that Republicans are scheduled to hold an internal election Nov. 10 to pick their candidate.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-LA, the No. 2 Republican and a close Johnson ally, announced his bid in a letter to colleagues. "Last night's election was far worse than any of us expected. We fought hard and left it all on the field, but clearly, we were unable to defy history," Scalise wrote, according to NBC. "This is no doubt a challenging time for our conference, but overcoming adversity is nothing new to me."

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-OH, the founding chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, is also running. "I know the Democrats' playbook. I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats' tactics," Jordan wrote, NBC reported.

NBC also reported that Rep. August Pfluger, R-TX, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, will challenge Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-MN, for the whip job, which becomes the No. 2 post in the minority.

Not every Republican is calling for continuity. Rep. Greg Steube, R-FL, wrote on X that leadership had "governed out of fear" and urged it to "step aside so new leadership can take a truly conservative direction," according to NBC.

President Donald Trump told reporters he'd stay out of the race. "We'll stay out of it," Trump said, according to USA TODAY. "The speaker was fantastic, the people under him were fantastic, all good people." USA TODAY reported that Trump said he didn't ask Johnson to step down, and that a person familiar with the situation said Johnson didn't want to get in the way of Scalise's ambitions.

Johnson, who won reelection to his Louisiana seat Tuesday, is expected to remain in the House, according to NBC and USA TODAY. He became speaker in October 2023 after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy. In a June 29 interview with USA TODAY, Johnson had said, "I intend to win the election and maintain the speakership."

What Jeffries is promising

Jeffries' letter opened, "Dear Colleague: America is back! Congratulations on your election to the 120th Congress." He wrote, "I write to humbly request your support in connection with my candidacy to serve as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives."

He organized his agenda around three themes he called affordability, accountability and American values, and said Democrats would set up working groups on housing, health care, groceries and goods, gas and utilities, and caregiving.

"During the first 100 days, House Democrats must act to reverse the Medicaid cuts, restore SNAP funding, extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, eradicate the Trump tariffs and stop the reckless war of choice in Iran," Jeffries wrote. He added, "We must root out corrupt price gouging, clean up the mess at the Supreme Court and ban Members of Congress from trading stocks. Accountability begins at home."

The letter also said Democrats "will try to find bipartisan common ground whenever and wherever possible." Those descriptions of policy and the administration are Jeffries' own; Republicans have defended the tariffs and the administration's Iran policy, and Trump on Wednesday defended the war while acknowledging it affected the midterms, AP reported.

NPR reported that Jeffries promised "transformational change" after the results.

How many seats are still out

AP projections still leave many House seats uncalled. As of 6:13 p.m. ET Wednesday, AP's House tally showed 237 seats for Democrats and 147 for Republicans, with 51 races still to be called. It takes 218 seats for a majority. AP's Mike Catalini reported that, as of 4 p.m., 59 House races where party control is at stake hadn't been called.

Five of those uncalled races are in Florida: the 7th, 9th, 13th, 26th and 27th districts, where AP still showed margins of less than 1 percentage point with 99% of the expected vote counted. Florida's official numbers come from the state's count, which is separate from AP's projections; see our live results page.

The new Congress is set to convene in January, when the full House will vote on a speaker. Until then, both parties' internal races will set who leads each side.

The House leadership picture will keep changing as the last races are called, and we'll follow it.

Sources: NBC News; USA TODAY; AP; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries; AP on Jeffries; NPR; AP uncalled races; AP live updates; AP results pages (projected).

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