WASHINGTON — The new Congress that will convene Friday may get off to a rough start with the contentious vote for the leader of the U.S. House.
There’s no certainty Rep. Mike Johnson will win that election because several House Republicans say they are unsure if they want to reelect him as Speaker of the House, even after President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement of the Louisiana Republican.
Due to the razor-thin majority the GOP will hold in the House, Johnson’s bid to remain speaker is doomed if just two House Republicans vote for someone other than him.
Johnson’s greatest strength is that there is no clear alternative. Punchbowl News reported that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, all want the job — just as they did in October of 2023 when a group of rebellious, hard-right GOP lawmakers ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, plunging the House into chaos.
But each of those candidates failed to win enough support then and are likely to face the same obstacle now.
Trump is expected to get more involved in the speaker’s election. If there is no speaker by Jan. 6, the House can’t certify Trump’s Electoral College victory. So it’s in Trump’s interest to get a speaker quickly and Johnson may be his best bet as the incumbent.
Election boosts Minnesota women in Congress
The number of women representing Minnesota in the U.S. House grew from four to five with the resignation of former Rep. Dean Phillips and the election of Kelly Morrison, who will be sworn in Friday to represent the 3rd Congressional District vacated by fellow Democrat Phillips.
In addition, Minnesota has two female U.S. senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
But Minnesota’s trend is not apparent nationwide. According to Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), 150 women will serve in the 119th Congress, one fewer than the 151 women serving in the previous Congress.
Female representation in Congress will drop by one more when Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, who has been nominated to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, resigns her seat.
“Election 2024 was essentially a stasis year for women’s representation, but after years of remarkable success, stasis can feel like a setback,” said CAWP Director Debbie Walsh in a statement.
Walsh also said “there’s more to this story” because women are nearing parity with male legislators in the Democratic Party in Congress and in most state legislatures, including Minnesota’s.
In the Minnesota Legislature, DFL women hold 52.5% of the seats while Republican women hold only 20.6%.
“To achieve gender parity in elected offices at every level, both parties must do the necessary, intentional work to recruit, support, and elect women,” Walsh said.
Schumer passes over Ken Martin
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week that he is endorsing Ben Wikler, the head of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party, to lead the Democratic National Committee, passing over Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin and a few other candidates.
Schumer is the highest-ranking Democrat to weigh in on the race so far. The election for a new DNC chairman will be held Feb. 1, with four candidate forums between now and then.
Besides Wikler and Martin, other hopefuls include former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, New York state Sen. James Skoufis and former Department of Homeland Security official Nate Snyder.
Kroll seeks Trump appointment
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Bob Kroll, the controversial former police union leader, is seeking President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination to be Minnesota’s next U.S. marshal.
In the days after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Kroll, a veteran police officer who was then the head of the police union, defended the four officers who were accused and eventually convicted of killing Floyd.
He also criticized the city’s response to the unrest that followed, demanding the deployment of more Minnesota National Guard troops to quash the violence.
As part of a settlement of two lawsuits filed because of his conduct, Kroll agreed to a ban from serving as a law enforcement officer in three of the state’s most populous counties (Hennepin, Ramsey and Anoka) for 10 years.
But Kroll’s attorney issued a statement to the Star Tribune that said the settlement shouldn’t keep Kroll from joining a federal agency that is primarily tasked with tracking down fugitives and providing security for Minnesota’s federal courthouses and judges. A U.S. marshal also assists in asset forfeiture, witness protection and transporting federal inmates between prisons.
Minnesota’s current U.S. marshal is Eddie Frizell, a Biden appointee who in 2022 became the state’s first Black marshal.
Your questions and comments
A reader wrote in response to a story about the elevation of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, to the jobs of top Democrats on the Senate and House agriculture committee.
“When Republicans will focus on the Trump-Musk billionaire bro agenda, Craig, Klobuchar, Walz and even Omar will be pushing for a strong ag bill and rural Minnesota economy,” the reader wrote. “Trump is wrong on every rural issue. Privatizing the Postal Service, not protecting deposits in rural banks, targeting the weather service and deporting the workforce? Trump at his dimmest.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.
Ana Radelat
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
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