House Speaker Mike Johnson's razor-thin majority is colliding head-on with 2026 campaigning, forcing GOP leaders to plead with lawmakers to show up to work.
Why it matters: One missed flight, sick day, or campaign stop can flip the outcome of a House vote.
- "It's dicey some days," Johnson told reporters. "I told everybody … 'no risk-taking, take vitamins and stay healthy and be here.'
- Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has privately warned members to miss votes only for life-or-death reasons. While that's long been the whip's posture, the message has taken a more serious tone this year, a source familiar told Axios.
State of play: The number of Republicans in the House narrowed to 218 following the unexpected resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and the sudden death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.).
- Democrats hold 213 seats and are set to gain one more after the Jan. 31 special election in Texas.
- In 2026 alone, there have been a handful of days when so many Republicans were absent that the GOP didn't hold a working majority on the floor.
Driving the news: GOP leaders summoned Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) back to D.C. on Thursday as Republicans teetered on a vote that would limit President Trump's authority to wage war in Venezuela.
- Hunt, who is locked in a heated three-way Senate primary, has missed the majority of votes this year to campaign. Johnson told reporters he had "expected" Hunt to be present this week.
- The vote sat open for nearly 30 minutes at 215–214 as members waited for Hunt to arrive from the airport and defeat the measure — with a police escort arranged at Johnson's direction.
- The Texas lawmaker was only in the Capitol for roughly 10 minutes before getting in his car and hitting the road again.
At the same time, 80-year-old Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) has been showing up to work under far different circumstances.
- "I think it's important, I want to be here to represent the people back home," Baird told Axios in the Capitol on Thursday while wearing a neck brace and showing extensive bruising on his face from a recent car accident.
- "They need to make sure that they're really doing what the country needs," he said of colleagues who skip votes to campaign.
Zoom in: For GOP leaders, Baird's disheveled presence has become a quiet example for the conference.
- "I saw Jim Baird the other day — he literally just got out of the hospital from a major car wreck and he was here doing his job," Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Axios. "Everybody's got things they'd like to do in other places sometimes, but this is really important."
The big picture: More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats running in contested primaries for higher office told Axios they're trying to prioritize votes over campaigning — though several acknowledged the trade-offs.
- Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told Axios she'll be here "as much as I can," but noted her day job is already getting in the way of her governorship ambitions.
- "Do I miss a debate?" she asked, pointing to two debates already scheduled while the House is in session.
- "I'll be here for important votes," said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of Mace's primary opponents. "Will I miss some suspensions? Yeah. I'll miss some not important things."
Between the lines: During midterm and presidential election years, Congress leaves Washington for the entire month of October — in addition to its August recess — to give members time to campaign.
- For lawmakers locked in heated primaries ahead of those breaks, juggling the House's four-day work week with campaigning can be a challenge.
"I've been missing events in the state because this is my job. I'm not gonna miss votes," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who is running for Texas attorney general, told Axios.
- "I took an oath office to represent 700,000 Texans, and I'm going to keep doing that. My campaign in Texas will take care of itself, but I'm not going to skip out on my duties up here," Roy added.
- "I intend to be here for, you know, all the important votes, while recognizing that a necessity of running a Senate campaign is you have to spend a lot of time in Massachusetts," said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass).
- Moulton added that "there are many of my colleagues who regularly miss various suspension votes to spend more time at home or with their families. I've missed votes in the past when my kids were sick … this job is about balancing competing demands."
The other side: "Anytime you run for higher office, you miss votes," Hunt posted Friday on X, defending his absence for 29 votes this year alone.
The bottom line: For some members, simply being in Washington has become part of their pitch to voters.
- "I am telling the people of Kentucky that the president needs me and the speaker of the House needs me — and they've been very understanding about that," Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who is running to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), told Axios.
- "These other candidates like to talk about supporting the president," Barr added. "Well, I'm actually here voting with the president and doing the job I was elected to do, and I think that actually is an advantage for me."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
