Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) said Tuesday he doesn’t believe that Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) has the votes to hold onto the speakership, even though the Louisiana Republican has received support from President-elect Donald Trump.
“I remain undecided, as do a number of my colleagues, because we saw so many of the failures last year that we are concerned about that might limit or inhibit our ability to advance the president’s agenda,” Roy said during an appearance on Fox News.
Roy said, as of Tuesday, that he does not believe Johnson has the support to remain in his role when it comes up for a vote on Friday.
The Texas representative is one of several House Republicans who are not currently backing Johnson, including Representatives Andy Harris, Andy Biggs, and Victoria Spartz.
In the event that all members are present and voting for a candidate, Johnson can only have one Republican defection if he wants to clinch the speakership.
Roy suggested Republican representatives Byron Donalds and Jim Jordan could make strong candidates for speaker, largely recreating the scenario that played out two years ago when a group of House Freedom Caucus members defected against then-representative Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid and supported Donalds and Jordan. McCarthy ultimately won enough support for the position after 15 rounds of voting.
“People say, well, Chip, who would you choose otherwise? Mike’s a friend and maybe he can answer the call and deliver an agenda and a plan. Byron Donalds is a good man and a good friend. I nominated him two years ago. Jim Jordan’s a good man and a good friend. There are other members of leadership in the conference who could do the job,” Roy said.
However, Jordan and Donalds have both expressed support for Johnson.
Jordan indicated he would support Johnson shortly after Trump endorsed the sitting speaker in a statement on Truth Social on Monday.
“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote, adding that the current speaker would “do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”
Roy said he “respects” Trump’s endorsement but he has become concerned by some of Johnson’s decisions over the last year, including his work to push through a short-term spending bill earlier this month that, in its first iteration, was a whopping 1,500 pages.
“We violated the 72-hour rule twice, which means we didn’t have time to read a bill. We had to have Elon [Musk] and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and the president and J. D. [Vance] come in to kill a 1,500-page monstrosity, cut it down to 100 pages. It still spent $110 billion unpaid for,” Roy said.
He suggested that “failure” is a “glimpse to come if we don’t organize the conference to be able to deliver for the American people.”
“We are not going to be able to bend on the things that matter. We must cut spending if you want inflation to go down and for people to afford to live in this country,” he said.