The Newly Unified GOP Will Have to Resist Its Chaotic Impulses

Plus: Shattered Democrats will need to get aggressive.

Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks before Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage at the campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Nothing brings together elected Republicans quite like being told what to do by Donald Trump. Following decisive victories at the presidential and Senate levels and with favorable odds to maintain their House majority in still-uncalled races, the GOP leadership structure is expected to sail into 2025 free of the kinds of disorder that everyone witnessed during the 118th Congress. Their boss is back.

Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer have all already circulated letters expressing their intent to stay in their roles. House Republicans held a members-only call this morning during which members of the current Republican leadership took a victory lap and reiterated their pitches to stay in charge. Johnson touted his campaign travel and fundraising abilities. Although we’re still waiting on results in a number of races in California and elsewhere, NRCC Chairman Rich Hudson expressed confidence that when everything is settled, Republicans will have a clear House majority. He expects them to add one or two seats to what they already held in 2023–2024.

In his letter, Johnson emphasized a “unified Republican government,” essentially imploring his fellow Republicans to stick together and not recreate the spectacles that plagued the 118th Congress.