Speaker Johnson helped save anti-Trump Republican

Even though Republicans got off to a rough start, I have to hand it to Speaker Johnson (R-LA), in that he managed to calm things down during the stretch run.

Now, however, he is taking fire for having helped an anti-Trump Republican win his race.

Betrayal

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) was among the handful of House Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching Trump during his first presidency.

For the most part, Donald Trump was able to mark each and every one of those Republicans and primary them out of the House of Representatives.

Newhouse was the exception, making it through the primary and into the general election.

Newhouse won his seat, winning a very close election, netting about 53% of the vote with about 10% of the vote still outstanding.

Had to Help

What I am about to write is not going to be popular, but it is also exactly why I believe Johnson did the right thing.

We all knew this race would be tight and the GOP would be lucky to hold the majority, as virtually everyone, including myself, predicted the Dems would take the House majority.

Johnson campaigned for Newhouse down the stretch, knowing that we needed every seat that we could get.

I have always stated that a party leader’s job is to support the candidate the people put in the race regardless of his personal feelings, and that is what Johnson did here. He backed the candidate the residents of Washington wanted, and Newhouse won.

Johnson Wins

The fact that Johnson was able to put his personal feelings aside, as well as Donald Trump's feelings, to help a party member who was elected says a lot about his leadership.

Again, I know a lot of people may not agree, but the alternative is giving Democrats the majority. Now Newhouse owes Johnson, and you better believe he will hold him to that.

To my point, Johnson just won a reported unanimous vote to remain Speaker in the next session, which says quite a bit about how he was able to bring this caucus together.

My book is still out on Johnson, but this next term will seal his fate. I believe he deserves the chance to have a full term with the majority to show what he can do. His leash is cut, however, as he needs to show me some backbone now that the GOP has all the power.