Mike Johnson just lost the votes to survive as Speaker
“Speaker” Mike Johnson was so overmatched from the start, he would have had trouble surviving even if he’d had a large majority. Instead he took over with just a five vote majority, which has now shrunk to a one or two vote majority, depending on the timing of the various resignations. To that end, two House Republicans are now sponsoring a resolution to remove Johnson.
This means Johnson no longer has enough Republican votes to survive. In turns this means that Johnson will only be able to remain Speaker if he can convince the Democrats to save him. In return, Johnson would need to give the Democrats the things they want, such as aid for Ukraine.
Keep in mind that even if the Democrats do opt to save Mike Johnson in order to secure Ukraine’s future, such a deal still wouldn’t secure Johnson’s future. If Johnson were to renege on the deal, the Democrats could pull their support, and he’d be finished.
And if the House Republican resignations continue to the point that House Republicans lose the majority, the Democrats would end up replacing Mike Johnson with Hakeem Jeffries at that point, even if they do save Johnson for now. Johnson knows that this could end up happening. But at this point he’s just trying to survive the day.
