Congress could be thrown into turmoil at the beginning of the new year as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces a Republican mutiny.
Johnson's vulnerability was exposed during last week's spending battle, which left many Republicans angry and President-elect Trump, who has long supported him, voicing doubt over Johnson's future ahead of a January 3 vote.
The list of hypothetical successors, if Johnson loses re-election, ranges from political outsiders like Elon Musk to traditional House Republicans like Tom Emmer (Mn.)
For 13 months, Johnson has kept a tenuous hold on his position with support from Trump, but the president-elect wavered last week as Johnson scrambled to renegotiate a bloated spending bill that many Republicans opposed.
In an apparent warning shot, Trump said Johnson would "easily" win another term as Speaker if he passed a spending bill satisfactory to Trump.
After days of scrambling, Johnson ultimately secured an agreement to fund the government for another three months, without meeting Trump's demands to raise the debt limit.
Trump has so far remained quiet ahead of the Speaker vote on January 3, when the next Congress is sworn in - and some Republicans have expressed doubts Johnson will survive.
His predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was just months into his job when he was sacked in a Republican mutiny triggered by disputes over spending.
Over the course of three weeks, Republicans went through three different failed candidates before rallying behind Johnson.
Some of the Republicans who may wish to succeed Johnson include pro-Trump stalwart Jim Jordan (R-Oh.), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Mn.), who both ran unsuccessfully in the scramble to replace McCarthy last year.
Emmer is the more conventional pick, but he lacks critical support from Trump, who sank Emmer's Speaker bid last year while calling him a "globalist RINO."
Some Republicans have voiced support for Elon Musk to become Speaker, and indeed, Musk is already wielding some influence as a member of Trump's circle. The Tesla CEO played a role, along with Trump, in sinking Johnson's original 1,500-page spending bill last week.
Despite misgivings many Republicans have about Johnson's leadership, some are urging Trump to support him to avoid a protracted Speaker battle that could derail the start of Trump's second term.
"To ensure President Trump can take office and hit the ground running on Jan. 20, we must be able to certify the 2024 election on Jan. 6. However, without a speaker, we cannot complete this process," Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital.
