House GOP Elects Lisa McClain as Conference Chair

The win vaults McClain into the four-membership leadership team that will run the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress.

WASHINGTON—The House Republican Conference on Nov. 13 elected Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) as its chair for the next Congress.

The party is poised to retain its majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2024 general elections. According to the Associated Press, Republicans are currently one seat away from the 218 needed to secure control of the chamber. The size of the majority won’t be known for some days with a handful of races still uncalled.

President-elect Donald Trump is nominating some House Republicans for executive branch positions following the party’s victory in the presidential election. McClain will fill the vacancy left by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R.-N.Y.), who was named U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

“I’ve been a team builder my whole life, and I will work to unite our Conference behind the mandate Americans gave us to pass President Trump’s agenda,” McClain wrote on X before the vote. As part of her leadership campaign, she presented members of the conference with whisky tumblers that had their names inscribed on them, as seen in photographs shared on social media.

The Conference Chair election is the only major change to the four-member House Republican leadership team in the 119th Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) were all reelected.

Johnson was formally elected as Leader of the House Republican Conference; the vote to elect him as Speaker will be on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress takes office.

The meeting for the election was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the U.S. Capitol complex. In the morning, Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, another Trump pick, attended the first session of the day-long event. Trump endorsed Johnson for the speakership during his remarks at the gathering.

The meeting was the first convening of the conference after Republicans also won control of the U.S. Senate. The party is poised to control both chambers of Congress for two years, from 2025 to 2027.

Johnson, at a press conference on Nov. 12, did not provide details about the House’s first order of business, though he indicated he is preparing to implement Trump’s “America First” agenda.