Sixteen months later, as the Republican majority has shrunk even further, House Speaker Mike Johnson is admitting that possibility.
The spate of early departures means that Republicans can soon only afford to lose one single vote when all lawmakers are present and voting, since 216 votes would constitute a majority.
“It's very feasible that Democrats will be running the House before the election,” says Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former counsel to Sen. Rand Paul.
“Republicans would be smart to be worried,” says Matthew Green, a politics professor at Catholic University.
“I don't think the odds are very high that the Republicans will lose their majority, but it is a much bigger possibility now than it's ever been.
“Slowly but surely, House Republicans are catastrophically mismanaging their own majority out of existence,” New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, said in December.
Santos, who faces nearly two dozen federal criminal charges, was expelled from Congress in December, with 105 Republicans voting for his removal. »
