Speaker Johnson could face challenger amid simmering GOP discontent

House Speaker Mike Johnson is seeking a smooth reelection to another term wielding the gavel, but a small group of discontent conservatives are again vying to shake things up at the top.

House Republicans are set to vote for a slate of leadership positions behind closed doors on Wednesday. Mr. Johnson and most of his team hope to win reelection to their posts.

Mr. Johnson has largely secured the support of the Republican conference. Republican lawmakers are celebrating election wins that will keep them in the majority and give them the green light to pass the agenda of President-elect Donald Trump, who plans an in-person visit to their closed-door meeting in the Capitol.

Mr. Johnson faces a potential challenge from some of the most conservative members of his party, who aren’t satisfied with his leadership style or ability to pass legislation with a slim Republican majority.

Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Johnson, but some conservatives want to consider other options. So far, no Republican lawmaker has publicly announced a challenge.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland did not rule out a challenge.

“Last I looked, this is America and having two people in a race is kind of the norm,” Mr. Harris said. “We can do this Soviet-style, or we can do this American-style.”

Mr. Johnson would easily defeat a challenger in a Republican conference vote, which requires only a simple majority to win.

A challenger would signal a faction within the House Republican Conference that Mr. Johnson may need to negotiate with to win the speaker’s gavel in January when nearly all Republican lawmakers must vote for him to defeat the Democratic nominee, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Mr. Johnson has remained bullish that he will keep the gavel, emphasizing his role in helping House Republicans keep their majority.

“When it was all said and done, I did more than 360 campaign events in over 250 cities across 40 states, and I logged enough miles to circumnavigate the globe 5½ times,” he said. “But it was worth it. It was worth it, and we got extraordinary candidates. We flipped blue seats to red, as we planned, and we kept this majority.”

Indeed, House Republicans are projected to keep the majority, albeit by another narrow margin. So far, Republicans have won 214 seats to Democrats’ 205, with 16 races still uncalled in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Ohio and Oregon.

Mr. Johnson may also be bolstered by Mr. Trump, who has vocally supported his leadership. Mr. Johnson has regularly visited Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago headquarters and has vowed to aggressively push to pass his policy during the incoming president’s first 100 days in office.

He pledged to raise “an America First banner” above Congress and “hit the ground running to deliver President Trump’s agenda … to turn this country around and unleash, as he says, ‘a new golden age in America.’”

If Mr. Trump goes to bat for Mr. Johnson on Wednesday morning, he will likely snuff out any opposition.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rich Hudson of North Carolina lauded Mr. Johnson, saying his “dauntless energy” and $27 million contribution to the House Republicans’ campaign arm put the party in a position to keep the lower chamber.

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You’ve earned your gavel,” Mr. Hudson said.

Still, his road to staying in power may have some speed bumps.

Some conservatives disagreed with Mr. Johnson throughout his speakership, taking issue with his decisions on Ukraine aid and government funding bills.

He will likely face opposition from Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Both launched a failed attempt to oust him from the speakership this year that garnered support from nearly a dozen conservatives.

Wednesday’s vote requires a simple majority of Republicans to coalesce behind Mr. Johnson, meaning more conservatives could vote against him as a pure protest vote or even nominate another candidate for the gavel.

It’s the full House’s Jan. 3 vote to elect a speaker and kick off the 119th Congress in which Mr. Johnson cannot afford defections, and some Republicans will be watching how he handles the remaining weeks of the 118th Congress.

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told Fox News on Sunday that Mr. Johnson must demonstrate “that he can corral this Republican conference” in looming fights over government funding, defense spending and possible pressure to deliver more aid to Ukraine.

“We’ve got to deliver. No more excuses. That’s what I want to hear from the speaker,” Mr. Roy said. “But he’s got a lot of Republicans who are still concerned. We’ve got to figure out how to get everybody on the same page.”