Trump’s House GOP picks have Republicans worried

House Republican leaders facing another razor-thin majority in the upcoming Congress are hoping President-elect Trump will not tap any more House GOP members for positions in his administration.

Trump has already picked Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) for national security adviser.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that he does not “expect” Trump to nominate more members for administration positions.

“But I’ll leave that up to him,” the Speaker added.

It’s unclear what the GOP majority will be in the House next year, but it is sure to be narrow.

Decision Desk HQ has projected GOP victories in 219 House seats and Democratic victories in 210, with six seats still to be called — three in which the GOP candidate currently leads, and three in which a Democrat has the edge.

Stefanik and Waltz will both have to resign their seats to assume their administration roles, at which point Johnson will be dealing with two vacancies and a smaller majority. Replacing both could take months.

In the fractious GOP conference, in which members have frequently broken ranks to hold up legislative activity or stage protests, those two votes could make a big difference in what kind of partisan legislation can get to Trump’s desk.

Johnson said Trump is “fully aware” of the dynamics and “appreciates” the "numbers game."

“President Trump and I have talked about this multiple times a day for the last several days,” Johnson said. “We have an embarrassment of riches. We have a really talented Republican conference; we’ve got really competent, capable people here. Many of them can serve in really important positions in the new administration.”

“But President Trump fully understands and appreciates the math here, and it’s just a numbers game,” he added. “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. 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 votes on the floor. So I think he and the administration are well in-tune to that.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) similarly complimented Trump’s Cabinet nominations, saying he's “making really good, smart picks," but added that he hopes the president-elect does not select more members of the House GOP conference.

“He’s already pulled a few really talented people out of the House. Hopefully no more until special elections can come,” he said.

The hopeful optimism comes as a number of other House Republicans remain on shortlists for various Cabinet positions. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), for example, is under consideration for Defense secretary, according to Politico; Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said he is in the mix for Transportation secretary, Missourinet reported; and Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) is being discussed for Agriculture secretary, according to Politico.

It will take a while to fill the vacancies left by Stefanik and Waltz — if they are confirmed by the Senate and leave their seats — though there is more flexibility in Florida’s special election timeline than in New York’s.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has to announce a special election within 10 days of Stefnanik stepping down from her 21st Congressional District seat, and that election will have to take place between 70-80 days after the announcement. It remains unclear when Stefanik will officially relinquish her seat, however.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will set the timeline for the special election to fill Waltz’s seat in Florida’s 6th District, and has wide discretion in determining that timeline.