House Republican leaders facing another razor-thin majority in the new Congress are hoping that President-elect Trump will not tap any more House GOP members for positions in his administration.
Trump has already picked Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) for national security adviser.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that he does not “expect” Trump to nominate more members for administration positions.
“But I’ll leave that up to him,” added Johnson.
It’s unclear what the GOP majority will be in the House next year, but it is sure to be narrow.
Decision Desk HQ has projected GOP victories in 219 House seats with Democrats holding 210 seats and six seats still to be called. The GOP candidate is winning in three of those races, while the Democratic candidate is also leading in three.
Stefanik and Waltz will both have to resign their seats to assume their cabinet roles, at which point Johnson will be dealing with two vacancies and a smaller majority. Replacing both could take months.
In the fractious GOP conference, where members have frequently broken ranks to hold up legislative activity or stage protests, those two votes could make a big difference in what kind of partisan legislation can get to Trump’s desk.
Johnson said Trump is “fully aware” of the dynamics and “appreciates” the numbers situation.
“President Trump and I have talked about this multiple times a day for the last several days,” Johnson said. “We have an embarrassment of riches. We have a really talented Republican conference, we’ve got really competent, capable people here. Many of them can serve in really important positions in the new administration.”
“But President Trump fully understands and appreciates the math here and it’s just a numbers game,” he added. “We believe we’re gonna have a larger majority than we had last time. It’s too early to handicap it but we’re optimistic about that. But every single vote will count because if someone gets ill or has a car accident or a late flight on their plane, then it affects the votes on the floor. So I think he and the administration are well in-tune to that.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), similarly, complimented Trump’s cabinet nominations — “he’s making really good, smart picks” — but said he hopes the President-elect does not select more members of the House GOP conference.
“He’s already pulled a few really talented people out of the House; hopefully no more until special elections can come,” he said.
The hopeful optimism comes as a number of other House Republicans remain on shortlists for various cabinet positions. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), for example, is under consideration for Defense secretary, according to Politico, Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said he is in the mix for Transportation secretary, Missourinet reported, and Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) is being discussed for Agriculture secretary, per Politico.
It will take a while to fill the vacancies left by Stefanik and Waltz after they leave their seats, if confirmed by the Senate, though there is more flexibility in Florida’s special election timeline than in New York’s.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has to announce a special election within 10 days of Stefnanik stepping down from her seat, which represents the 21st congressional district. That race will have to take place within 70-80- days of the announcement. The specific timeline, however, remains up in the air since it is unclear when Stefanik will officially relinquish her seat.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) will set the timeline for the special election to fill Waltz’s seat in Florida’s 6th District, and has wide discretion in determining that timeline.
