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House Speaker

On Wednesday, when Speaker Mike Johnson walked his conference through the contours of his deal with Chuck Schumer, his right flank revolted.

Tina Nguyen • January 10, 2024

Johnson Gets the McCarthy Treatment

Congratulations, Speaker Mike Johnson: You’ve had this job for a couple months, you need to pass unpopular legislation with a one-vote margin, and now miscreants in your own party are already threatening that much-dreaded defenestration.

Tara Palmeri • November 16, 2023

Desperately Seeking Johnson

The absence of anyone with a clear inside track to Johnson illuminates one of the vulnerabilities in Washington’s relationship-based business model.

As Mike Johnson ascends from nobody to speaker, the entire flat-footed lobbying industry is desperately searching their Rolodexes for ins, connections, second cousins once removed—or any way to influence the new guy with the gavel.

Tara Palmeri • October 27, 2023

Kevin McCarthy’s Bridesmaid Era

When Johnson was elected on Wednesday, McCarthy’s closest allies and senior aides woke up to the harsh reality that it was time to pack up the speaker’s office.

McCarthy, who has long demonstrated an extraordinary comfort with the longest of long games, and an unparalleled ability to withstand humiliation, must now confront his next act. Or will he hold on for another day?

Tom Emmer’s speakership bid collapsed on Tuesday afternoon.

Abby Livingston • October 24, 2023

Darkness on the Edge of Town

News and notes on an unprecedented era in congressional history.

Kevin McCarthy seems invested in finding a speaker who would need him the most.

Tara Palmeri • October 19, 2023

The Kevin McCarthy Revival Plot

So does Kevin McCarthy want his old job back, or does he instead want to cut a role for himself as a background-lurking shadow Speaker fundraising rainmaker? Either way, unlike his predecessors, he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere…

Perhaps the most notable holdout was the House Appropriations chair Kay Granger.

Abby Livingston • October 17, 2023

The Jordan Skeptics Strike Back

It seems the G.O.P. institutionalists, after years of getting steamrolled by Trump, finally found a hill they might be willing to die on.

Jim Jordan, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, was long considered a bomb-thrower rather than a dealmaker by his colleagues.

Abby Livingston • October 16, 2023

Jim Jordan’s Hostile Takeover

The hardliner Boehner once called a “legislative terrorist” is mounting an unprecedented campaign to whip Republican votes. But does he have the numbers? And could taking the speakership cost him the House?

Steve Scalise and his allies had been making the case across the Hill that he would be a less volatile, more cooperative leader than his main rival for the gavel.

Tina Nguyen • October 11, 2023

War & Scalise

A small crew of Republican holdouts—McCarthy loyalists, Jordan fans, media gadflies—are threatening to tank Scalise’s speakership bid, just like they did to his predecessor. How long can the House G.O.P. chaos last?

Kevin McCarthy’s exit was more or less preordained from the moment he gave Matt Gaetz the power to initiate a no-confidence vote.

Tina Nguyen • October 4, 2023

Gaetz Crimes & the McCarthy Morality Tale

Congress’s most ardent McCarthy haters didn’t plan for Matt Gaetz to go rogue. But with the transactional Kevin McCarthy gone as Speaker, the most MAGA Republicans need to find a new whipping boy—and fast.

Chairmanship fights tend to bring out the worst in members—but Kevin McCarthy can’t afford any turbulence in these particularly fraught times.

Tara Palmeri • February 2, 2023

McCarthy’s Horse-Trading Nightmare

His imperiled speakership was a collaborative effort that resulted in plenty of begging and favor-trading. Now, as members expect reciprocity for loyalty in the form of committee assignments, McCarthy’s up to his eyeballs placating unhappy former allies in his slim majority.