WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson is facing growing pushback from House Republican women who say they’re being sidelined and who have publicly broken with his leadership on several issues.
This week Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., filed a discharge petition to bypass Johnson and force a House vote on a ban on congressional stock trading, saying she was “pissed” leadership wasn’t moving faster even as she stressed she “likes Mike.” Johnson has preferred regular order and says the issue has had an initial hearing.
House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York both signed Luna’s petition and publicly criticized Johnson over language in the national defense bill, accusing him on social media of being untruthful before the two appeared to patch things over. Stefanik’s participation was notable because she serves in GOP leadership.
Asked about the tensions, Johnson brushed them off, saying the conference contains “220 or so people and lots of different opinions” and that not everyone will be happy with every decision.
Several Republican women told NBC News — speaking on the condition of anonymity — that they feel passed over for roles and that their priorities don’t always get the attention they deserve. Some lawmakers and aides privately blame Johnson for limited female advancement in the conference, pointing to the fact that there are no elected Republican women serving as committee chairs and that only one woman, 83-year-old Rep. Virginia Foxx, chairs a House committee (the Rules Committee) after Johnson appointed her.
“Undercutting” and marginalization have been raised as concerns by high-profile conservatives. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who recently announced she will resign, told The Washington Post she believes Republican women have been marginalized. Greene and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina — another vocal critic of Johnson — plan to meet to discuss their frustrations.
Several recent floor fights have highlighted the rifts. In one, Mace, Greene and others helped push a discharge petition to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, countering pressure from Johnson and the White House to stand down. Johnson said he was worried about protecting victims’ identities; the petition passed and the files were released after President Trump endorsed the move.
Another clash came over a resolution to censure Rep. Cory Mills amid allegations of misconduct. Mace forced a vote, and when the GOP moved to table the resolution, eight Republicans voted with Democrats to oppose that motion — six of them women, including Mace, Lauren Boebert, Greene, Luna, Kat Cammack and Harriet Hageman. Mace has said she didn’t get a substantive response from Johnson after raising concerns about Mills; Johnson has urged that the Ethics Committee process play out and defended Mills as a “faithful colleague.”
The tensions come as several prominent GOP women plan to leave the House or seek other offices, raising worries the number of Republican women in the chamber could shrink after the 2026 midterms. Greene is resigning; Stefanik and Mace are running for governor; Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa is running for the Senate. Those departures would follow modest declines from the 2023 peak of 36 Republican women; currently there are 33 Republican women in the House (including two nonvoting members), compared with 96 Democratic women.
Advocates and scholars warn that losses of even a few Republican women are especially consequential because they start from lower overall numbers. Kelly Dittmar of the Eagleton Institute’s Center for American Women and Politics said reaching or exceeding past records will require strong recruitment and a particularly favorable cycle for Republicans.
Johnson’s team rejects claims he has not supported women. A spokesman said the speaker “strongly supports the women in his conference,” has elevated women to leadership posts and worked to recruit candidates, noting fundraising support given to women on the Speaker’s Joint Fundraising Committee. Johnson also placed three Republican women on the Intelligence Committee and named Stefanik to her leadership post after her nomination for U.N. ambassador was withdrawn.
Outside groups have tried to fill gaps in recruitment and support. Maggie’s List has endorsed multiple 2026 GOP women candidates and backed Stefanik’s gubernatorial bid; Winning for Women has met prospective candidates in dozens of states and is identifying House contenders in reliably Republican districts. Still, critics say the party’s internal infrastructure for sustaining and growing female representation has been inconsistent. The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched recruitment efforts before — such as 2014’s “Project GROW” — but such programs have struggled to endure.
Former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, a Maggie’s List spokesperson, said she was confident the number of GOP women in Congress would “stay steady,” but also acknowledged that Republican groups must do more to back women candidates and that the party often resists identity-focused approaches to recruitment.
The dispute over Johnson and the party’s treatment of women reflects broader tensions within the GOP conference over strategy, personnel choices and priorities. Johnson maintains he’s not worried about his standing, while some Republican women say growing frustration — and the prospect of high-profile departures — could weaken the party’s bench of female lawmakers unless recruitment and elevation become sustained priorities.