Mike Johnson Helped Save an Establishment Republican Who Voted to Impeach Donald Trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson spent time, money, and resources campaigning in Washington State for the reelection of Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) despite the fact that Newhouse voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, now again the president-elect of the United States.

Newhouse’s seat, amazingly, was not in danger of falling into Democrat hands so Johnson cannot legitimately argue that he did so to protect the majority for House Republicans. Johnson himself has not replied to multiple requests for comment from Breitbart News sent through his advisers Hogan Gidley and Taylor Haulsee on why he campaigned for Newhouse in October just two weeks before the election, despite the fact that Newhouse voted to impeach Trump and Democrats stood zero chance of taking the seat. The fact that the Speaker himself is refusing to answer questions or provide commentary on this is troubling at best.

But Haulsee sent a statement as the Speaker’s spokesman that made clear that Johnson does find it acceptable to have Republicans who supported impeaching Trump in the House GOP conference. “Speaker Johnson held over 360 campaign events in 40 different states during his around the clock, year-long campaign to secure a House Republican Majority that will pass President’s Trump’s agenda to secure the border and restore American energy dominance,” Haulsee told Breitbart News. “The Speaker fought hard for all our incumbents from Rep. Scott Perry to Rep. Dan Newhouse.”

Newhouse was one of the 10 Republicans in the U.S. House in early 2021 who voted to impeach Trump in his second impeachment during his first term. He is one of only two of them left in Congress—the other is Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), who looks to have survived a tough reelection fight again out on the west coast. In Valadao’s case, unlike Newhouse’s case, Republicans who backed him have a legitimate argument that they needed to support him because a Democrat would otherwise have won the seat if he did not. Valadao’s district is very blue compared to most frontline Republicans, and that’s been why he survived when others like former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY)—who endorsed and campaigned with failed Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris—and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), among others, lost.

But in Newhouse’s case this year, the general election—given the jungle primary system in Washington State—came down to two Republicans who had advanced to the November contest. Newhouse’s general election opponent was Trump-endorsed Republican Jerrod Sessler, a businessman and former race car driver in the region. So, ultimately, if Newhouse had lost on Nov. 5, the winner would have been Sessler—and Democrats would have had zero shot at this seat.

It’s not just Johnson who campaigned for Newhouse despite his vote to impeach Trump. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise did too, and the fact that they wasted time—precious in the weeks leading up to an election—actually visiting Newhouse’s district to spend money and resources campaigning for him probably means other GOP candidates who lost close races lost out on more of their support.

House Republicans have yet to clinch the majority, but as of this witting per Decision Desk HQ they have confirmed 216 of the 218 seats they need to hold it. Of the remaining races to be called, Republicans lead in enough of them to likely seal the deal sometime this week. But had Johnson, instead of wasting time campaigning for Newhouse, spent more time in places like Virginia’s seventh district, New Mexico’s second district, Maine’s second district, and more, it’s possible that Republicans would already have the majority locked in. The GOP candidates lost in all three of those races, and several other places they had a decent shot at winning.

It’s unclear what may or may not happen with Johnson’s personal future. The very weak Speaker survived a motion to vacate the chair this summer after he betrayed Republicans by passing billions of more dollars in foreign aid spending, sending more American treasure to Ukraine. The motion, which was tabled only because Democrats en masse banded together to provide enough votes to save Johnson’s gavel, would have carried without Democrat support because more Republicans revolted against him than had done so against former Speaker Kevin McCarthy when McCarthy was ousted in the fall of 2023.

Johnson’s fate may very well depend on how big an eventual likely House GOP majority is when the final congressional races are called and certified. It’s possible that the House majority is slimmer than it was in the past Congress, or it could be slightly bigger, but if Johnson loses even just a handful of House Republicans in the inevitable speakership vote at the beginning of the next Congress he could go down as Speaker. The first order of business a new Congress must accomplish before anything else is considered is electing a Speaker. To win the gavel in that must-have election, Johnson must win 218 votes on the floor of the House—so subtract 218 from the final total of House Republican seats, and assuming all members are present and voting for a person on day one of the new Congress, if Johnson loses that many Republicans he would fail in the speakership election. Republicans went through this process for more than a week at the beginning of the last Congress, when it took 15 ballots to eventually elect McCarthy as Speaker. Johnson could be in a weaker position come January, but that remains to be seen.

Johnson has gone to great lengths to cozy up to Trump, who has spoken highly of Johnson in recent weeks including in the lead-up to and aftermath of the election. It’s possible Trump endorses Johnson, and if he does that might be enough to carry Johnson back into the job. But there are many, many House Republicans, including several close to Trump, who are downright furious with Johnson—again, the only reason he is Speaker today is because Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, saved him in the motion to vacate vote this summer—so even a Trump endorsement might not be enough. This will be a major fight worth watching, and conservatives and Trump-aligned House members could use the process to oust Johnson and elect a better Speaker more in line with Trump’s agenda than the impeachment-Republican-backing Johnson.