Johnson Steps Aside as Vance Blames Iran War for Republican Rout

WASHINGTON — The day after voters handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress, the Republican leadership in the House began to change hands. Speaker Mike Johnson told his staff on Wednesday morning that he will not seek the party's top leadership post in the new Congress, a decision reported by Reuters, NBC News and the Associated Press from people familiar with the call. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who won re-election to his own seat on Tuesday, will remain speaker until the new Congress convenes in January, but he will not lead Republicans into the minority.

The announcement capped a morning of blunt reckoning inside the defeated party. Vice President JD Vance blamed the eight-month war with Iran for the loss, writing in a public post that the war was the reason Republicans lost. President Donald Trump spent part of the day at the White House ballroom construction site, and had not yet spoken to the two Democrats poised to lead Congress, according to House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats to reach a 54-seat majority, according to USA Today, and flipped dozens of House seats. Two Senate races, in Alaska and Mississippi, were still undecided on Wednesday. The scale of the result, detailed in the Democrats' retaking of Congress, ended two years of unified Republican control and set up divided government for the final two years of Trump's presidency.

The speaker steps aside

Johnson's decision, delivered to staff on Wednesday morning, was a reversal. He had spent much of the campaign insisting Republicans would expand their narrow 218-214 House majority, and in October he had told CBS News he intended to stay on as leader even if Republicans lost the House. By Wednesday, after Democrats took both chambers, he told staff he would not run for minority leader, according to two sources cited by USA Today and a source cited by Reuters.

In a statement overnight, Johnson acknowledged a seismic defeat while vowing a fight back. "While the outcome of this midterm is not what we'd hoped and fought for, a new battle is just beginning," he wrote, promising that "come 2028, we WILL take back the House and we will finish the job." Johnson rose to the speakership in October 2023 after Republican infighting removed Kevin McCarthy. His wider plans are not known, according to NBC News, but he is expected to remain in Congress as a rank-and-file member.

The contest to succeed him opened immediately. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio are the two Republicans moving to replace Johnson, according to NBC News, CBS News and Roll Call. Jordan told colleagues in a letter on Wednesday that he wants the job, calling himself "battle-tested on the oversight front." Scalise was expected to launch his own bid on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with his plans cited by Roll Call. House Republicans plan to hold their leadership elections on November 10.

Vance names the war

Vance's intervention was the sharpest public explanation offered by any senior Republican on Wednesday. "The reason we lost is the war," he wrote in a post on X. "The president himself said so last night." The war in the Middle East began eight months ago when the United States and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran, and it was deeply unpopular among voters, USA Today reported, upending the global economy and driving up fuel prices across the country.

"If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest," Vance wrote. "But everyone knows why we lost," he added. "And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there." Trump himself acknowledged on Tuesday night that the war had contributed to the Republican losses.

The economic argument ran through the exit polling. About four in ten voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, according to Associated Press polling reported by Al Jazeera, with most expressing concern about high petrol and grocery prices that surged after the war began in February. Three-quarters of voters said they were angry or dissatisfied with the direction of the country, according to exit polls conducted by SSRS for a consortium of American media outlets.

Democrats set the terms

Jeffries, the New York Democrat poised to become the first Black speaker in American history, used his first news conference after the victory to lower one temperature while raising another. He said impeaching Trump himself is not something House Democrats are prioritising. "I haven't had a single member of the House Democratic Caucus talk to me about impeachment," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Jeffries also said Trump had not yet contacted him or Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. "I have not heard from President Trump. It's my understanding that Leader Schumer has not heard from President Trump," he said. Schumer told reporters on Wednesday morning that he is confident he will be re-elected majority leader when Democrats take the Senate in January, despite opposition from some incoming Senate Democrats.

What Democrats do plan is scrutiny. Representative Robert Garcia, the most senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, has indicated the party plans to investigate the Trump family's business interests, the Epstein files and federal conduct during immigration enforcement, according to Newsweek reporting. Jeffries framed the result as a mandate: "Today begins the great American comeback," he told supporters in Washington on Tuesday night.

What happens next

The immediate calendar is crowded. House Republicans will elect their new leader on November 10. The new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027, when the House will elect a speaker, with Jeffries in line for the post. In the Senate, a Democratic majority would give the party power to block Trump's nominees, including any Supreme Court vacancy.

Markets welcomed the result on Wednesday, with the Dow rising more than 1,100 points in early trading, a reaction covered in the market surge after the blue wave. Trump congratulated Democrats in a Fox News interview on Tuesday night.

For Republicans, the hardest questions are about identity as much as procedure. The party lost Senate seats in states Trump carried comfortably in 2024, including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina. In Kansas, Adam Hamilton became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat there since 1932. In Texas, James Talarico became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat since 1988. In South Carolina, paediatrician Annie Andrews trounced Senator Darline Graham to become the state's first Democratic senator in nearly 30 years.

Two races will also shape the final Senate tally. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom is running neck-and-neck with incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, with mail-in ballots still arriving for five more days. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is challenging incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, where a ranked-choice tally would not start until November 18. Until those races resolve, the precise size of the Democratic majority will stay open — but the direction of American politics after Tuesday is not in doubt.