Johnson gets reinforcements as GOP swears in new member — but the edge could shrink within days

Relief is on the way for House Speaker Mike Johnson, as the GOP clings to a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

Republican Rep.-elect Clay Fuller of Georgia is expected to be sworn in by Johnson on Tuesday, one week after Fuller defeated Democrat Shawn Harris in a special election to fill the vacant U.S. House seat in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, in the crucial southeastern battleground state.

The seat, in northwest Georgia, was left vacant when MAGA firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a bitter falling out with Trump.

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The special election came as Republicans clung to a fragile four-seat majority in the House. The GOP was under the gun to make sure the Democrats didn’t pull off an upset in a district that President Donald Trump carried by a whopping 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory. Fuller ended up topping Harris by 12 points.

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Pointing to Fuller, Johnson in a statement to Fox News Digital said, “We look forward to welcoming him to our House Republican Conference and adding another strong member to our small but consequential majority.”

And the speaker described Fuller, who was a local district attorney and a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard who’s served in the Air Force since 2009, as “a principled leader who is laser-focused on delivering results for Georgia.”

Fuller, in an interview last week with Fox News Digital minutes after winning the runoff election, described himself as a “reinforcement” for Johnson and said his victory was “extremely crucial.”

And referring to Washington, D.C., he said he was looking “forward to getting up there as soon as possible… to being up there and fighting.”

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When Fuller is sworn in, the House Republican conference will stand at 219, which includes Republican-turned-independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, who caucuses with the GOP.

But the Democrats may soon boost their ranks by one to 215.

Democratic congressional candidate Analilia Mejia is favored in Thursday’s special election in New Jersey’s left-leaning 11th Congressional District, in the race to fill the seat left vacant when then Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill stepped down late last year after winning election as governor.

There’s one more vacant seat in Congress, in California’s 1st Congressional District, following the unexpected death in early January of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa.

A primary in the race to fill LaMalfa’s seat will be held on June 2, which is primary day in California. And the special general election will be held on Aug. 4.

The district, in northeastern California, is solidly Republican.