A growing rebellion is brewing inside the Senate Republican Conference following the GOP’s devastating midterm election losses, and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is drawing a line in the sand.
Johnson announced Monday that he will refuse to participate in Tuesday’s scheduled Republican leadership elections if GOP leaders insist on moving forward without first confronting the party’s disastrous performance at the ballot box.
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, Johnson delivered an ultimatum to his Republican colleagues.
“If you hold the election, I’ll leave the room,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to participate in elections for leadership tomorrow.”
The Wisconsin Republican also described the rush to hold leadership elections as “obnoxious,” according to the Examiner.
His warning comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) prepares to seek another term as Republican leader despite the GOP losing control of the Senate in last week’s elections.
The November 3 elections delivered a stunning setback for Republicans, with Democrats securing at least 54 Senate seats and several Republican incumbents facing defeat.
Rather than immediately voting on who should lead the Republican minority in the next Congress, Johnson and several colleagues are demanding a serious examination of what went wrong.
The dispute has exposed growing frustration among Republicans over the party’s direction, its legislative priorities, and whether the current leadership team should continue without a thorough internal review.
On Monday, Johnson formally sent a letter to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR), demanding that leadership elections be postponed.
The letter was co-signed by four Republican senators: Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Budd of North Carolina, and John Kennedy of Louisiana.
Together, the five senators met the signature threshold necessary to request a Republican Conference meeting.
Their demand was straightforward: Republicans should examine the election results, evaluate their leadership, and determine a strategy for the next Congress before voting on who will lead them.
The senators warned in their letter:
“Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice.”
They also called for a serious discussion of the party’s failures and its strategy for the 2028 elections.
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The leadership vote is currently scheduled for Tuesday, November 10, at 9 a.m.
Johnson and his allies want that meeting devoted to a substantive conference discussion rather than immediately proceeding with leadership elections.
Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.
You can email Jim Hᴏft here, and read more of Jim Hᴏft’s articles here.
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