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House Speaker Mike Johnson conceded on Tuesday night, November 3, 2026, that Republicans had lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives, addressing hundreds of supporters at a watch party at the Shreveport Convention Center in Louisiana at around 10 p.m., after Democrats were projected to flip the chamber in the midterm elections. Johnson said: "We faced some real odds here. We went on offense early … we made our case in terms of the language of common sense." He thanked President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance and vowed to keep fighting for Republicans in Congress, saying he had left everything on the field in the campaign.
At the same Shreveport appearance, Johnson looked past the loss and vowed Republicans would double down and win the chamber back in the next presidential-cycle election, declaring: "We double down… And come 2028, we will take back the House, and we will finish this job."
Johnson himself was re-elected Tuesday in Louisiana's 4th Congressional District, as was House Majority Leader Steve Scalise in the 1st District; both are now expected to lose their leadership posts running the chamber when the majority changes. Under House rules, Republican leadership does not automatically move down one rung; new leaders will be elected by secret ballot when the new Congress convenes in January. Johnson had told CBS News before the election that, if Republicans lost the majority, he expected his colleagues would ask him to continue leading the conference even under divided government.
The Shreveport Advocate reported that Democratic voters turned out in huge numbers in the midterms, helping House Democrats add several seats, with the turnout driven in part by rising gas and grocery prices tied to the Iran war and growing dissatisfaction with President Trump.