House GOP Leaders Request Trump Seek Cabinet Members Elsewhere

House Republican leaders on Tuesday suggested President-elect Donald Trump not look to their ranks for any more picks for his White House Cabinet, acknowledging their cushion for votes will be narrow.

“He’s already pulled a few really talented people out of the House. Hopefully, no more for a little while until special elections can come,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) at a Capitol Hill press conference.

Republicans are likely, though not guaranteed, to hold on to control of the House after last week’s elections in which all House members were on the ballot. In a full 435-member House, 218 is a majority. Going into the election, Republicans held 220 seats, meaning they could lose two members of their side and still win floor votes in a full House where everyone votes according to their party.

The Associated Press, as of early Tuesday, had 16 House races outstanding, with Republicans having a much easier path to a majority than Democrats. The AP had called 214 races in favor of the GOP and only 205 for Democrats, meaning they would have to win almost all of the yet-to-be-called races to get to 218.

The GOP’s narrow margin in the current 118th Congress has been a consistent source of problems for leadership. In addition to eight Republicans voting with all Democrats to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), there were times in 2024 when Mike Johnson (R-La.), the current House speaker, had to rely on Democrats to get his priorities across the floor.

So far, Trump has picked Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to be his administration’s ambassador to the United Nations and also reportedly chosen Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to be his chief national security adviser.

Johnson said he hoped for a larger majority in the upcoming Congress beginning in January, but also said Trump was aware any more Cabinet picks from the House GOP ranks could cause problems.

“We believe we’re going to have a larger majority than we had last time. It’s too early to handicap it, but we’re optimistic about that,” he said. “But every single vote will count, because if someone gets ill or has a car accident or a late flight on their plane, then it affects the vote on the floor.”

Johnson said Trump and the White House transition team are “well in tune” to the ramifications of picking more of his party colleagues.

“President Trump fully understands and appreciates the math here, and it’s just a numbers game,” he said.