Mike Johnson does not plan to stay on as leader of House Republicans next year, people close to him say. Republicans lost their House majority in the recent election, and his expected exit opens a contest over who leads the party as the minority.

The likely frontrunners are Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio. Scalise is the current No. 2 Republican and an establishment-aligned conservative. Jordan chairs the Judiciary Committee and has long sought a top leadership post as a hardline, confrontational voice. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, now the chamber's third-ranking Republican, may also enter the race.

The contest is about how united House Republicans will be in the minority. That shapes their leverage on spending bills and debt-limit fights, and on any oversight pushed from the Judiciary chairmanship Jordan holds today.

A Jordan win would look like a conference that wants a sharper, more combative stance against the majority. A Scalise win would suggest continuity with the establishment wing that worked with Johnson.

The outcome will not be clear until House Republicans vote, likely after the new Congress convenes.

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