After Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives effective Jan. 5, following a very public breakup with President Donald Trump, the former MAGA loyalist confirmed reports that several other Republicans could also exit amid growing dissatisfaction with their jobs on Capitol Hill.
An exodus of just a handful of Republicans before next year’s midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026, could result in them losing their already slim majority in the U.S. House and could obstruct their ability to pass legislation as part of Trump’s MAGA agenda.
Currently, Republicans hold a 219-213 majority in the U.S. House. However, after Greene leaves office, the majority will drop to 218 until a special election is called in Georgia to fill her successor’s seat. If reports about other Republicans potentially resigning from office before Election Day are true, the GOP’s majority could effectively vanish.
Not to mention, Democrats could pick up three more seats in the U.S. House before the midterm election after special elections in Texas’s 18th Congressional District on Jan. 31, 2026, New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District on April 16, 2026, and Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday.
As CNN reports, “Democrats have beaten their 2024 margins in U.S. House special elections this year by an average of 16 points.”
While it remains hypothetical for now, a continued exodus of Republicans would give U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democrats newfound political power to sway the outcome of votes in the House.
Jeffries will likely become House Speaker if Democrats win the majority after the 2026 midterm elections, and would become the first Black House speaker in U.S. history.
“Numbers and mood are two different things in politics. The actual count in the House of Representatives, who knows what that may look like, but certainly, the mood of the House we see the tide turning,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, who is an advisor to Jeffries and other national Democrats.
Seawright told theGrio, “Republicans are figuring out they’re going to have to get on board or sink very quickly. And I think they also realize that means jumping ship when it comes to Trumpism and the extreme policy agenda or lack of agenda, when it comes to Donald Trump.”
If Democrats were somehow able to clinch a majority or close an already historically slim Republican majority, Seawright said Leader Jeffries would be able to “implement or set the tone for an agenda” that speaks to the American public and their desire for Washington to address their concerns around affordability.
Jeffries would be able to demonstrate “what true leadership looks like from a bipartisan manner,” said the Democratic operative. Seawright said the economic agenda of the Democratic Party, which has recently focused on the cost of health care, isn’t just “liberal issues” but rather “issues that everyday Americans thought they were going to get with this Republican majority.”
“Jeffries, more so than anyone else from either side in leadership, understands the difference between campaigning and governing, the difference between talking about issues and actually having to deal with those issues from an implementation standpoint,” he added.
“He also understands what it means for folks who may not agree with him in every aspect of the issue, and that is what’s going to make him not only unique, but that’s going to make him respected on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol.”
