WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson will not seek the top Republican leadership post in the next Congress, telling his staff on Wednesday morning that he is stepping aside after voters handed control of the House to Democrats in the midterm elections.

The decision, first reported by Punchbowl News and confirmed by the Associated Press, NPR and CBS News, ends Johnson's three-year run as speaker and opens a swift contest to lead a smaller, chastened Republican conference into the minority. House Republicans are scheduled to hold their leadership elections on November 10, with candidates asked to declare by November 6.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, won re-election to his House seat on Tuesday with about 58 percent of the vote in a five-candidate field, according to unofficial returns, and he is not expected to resign from Congress. What he is giving up is the leadership job itself. In a letter to colleagues, he wrote that "the time has come for me to give them more of the attention and presence they so richly deserve," referring to his family, and promised that "come 2028, we WILL take back the House."

The race to succeed him opened immediately. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Johnson's No. 2 and a fellow Louisianan, launched a bid in a letter calling the election result "far worse than any of us expected." House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio also announced he is running, pitching himself to colleagues in a letter of his own. The winner will serve as minority leader when the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027, working alongside the incoming Democratic speaker, who is expected to be House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries — which would make him the first Black speaker in history.

Johnson became speaker in October 2023 after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, and he was re-elected to the post in 2025. He had told CBS News as recently as October that he intended to remain as party leader even if Republicans lost control of the House. He conceded the majority at a watch party in Shreveport on election night, describing his time as speaker as the honor of his life.

Johnson remains speaker until the new House is sworn in in January. Whoever wins the November 10 vote will tell the party whether it believes it lost because of its message or because of how it delivered it.