WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s abrupt announcement Friday that she planned to resign, blindsiding the House speaker and shocking Washington, will put a dent in Republicans’ already fragile majority, leaving them with a vacant seat at least into the spring.

But beyond the short-term practical impact, the sudden exit of Greene, R-Ga., who for years was one of the loudest MAGA voices in politics, has highlighted a deep well of discontent among far-right lawmakers at the core of President Donald Trump’s coalition.

That dynamic could make it more difficult for Speaker Mike Johnson to corral his small and unruly conference, and threatens to divide the party going into crucial midterm elections in which the GOP majority is at stake.

‘Loyalty Should Be a Two-Way Street’

“Loyalty should be a two-way street, and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district’s interest because our job title is literally, ‘Representative,’” Greene wrote in a lengthy social media post Friday.

The post and an accompanying video served as an indictment of a Republican Congress she said had squandered its opportunity to do anything of significance for the American people, much less enact the ultraconservative agenda that Trump had promised. She also predicted that Republicans would lose the House.

The “legislature has been mostly sidelined” over the last year, Greene said, noting that her proposals, including some to designate English as the official language of the United States, make it a felony to assist minors with gender transitions and eliminate visas for skilled immigrant workers, “just sit collecting dust.”

That account was strikingly at odds with the Republican message going into next year’s elections, in which GOP lawmakers plan to portray themselves as stewards of the president’s agenda who have delivered victories for voters.

Other Republicans Express Frustration

And in the wake of Greene’s announcement, other Republicans chimed in to echo her dissatisfaction with what their party has accomplished.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of truth to what Marjorie had to say,” Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., said in a social media post. “I can’t blame her for leaving this institution that has betrayed the American people.”

In his own post, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who routinely breaks with Trump, said of Greene’s farewell statement: “There’s more honesty expressed in these four pages than most politicians will speak in a lifetime.”

Trump celebrated the departure of Greene, whom he unendorsed last week, in a post on social media Saturday in which he called her a “traitor” and took credit for chasing her out of Congress by threatening to run a primary opponent against her.

But her exit — and the break between the two that preceded it — also underscored dissatisfaction in Trump’s base with parts of his agenda, and how at least some Republicans in Congress are beginning to look past him as the first signs of his lame duck status emerge.

How Will Greene’s Exit Impact Speaker Johnson?

That could be a big problem for Johnson, who has relied on the president’s stronghold over House Republicans to maintain order in the chamber during the first full year of his speakership.

After all, Greene’s final major legislative effort was joining with Democrats — along with Massie and two other hard-right Republicans — to force a vote on a bill demanding that the Justice Department release all of its investigative files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Both Johnson and Trump had worked for months to kill it before flipping to support it once passage appeared inevitable.

In the near term, Greene’s planned departure Jan. 5 will not have much impact on Republicans’ bare-minimum majority. They can afford to lose no more than two defectors on a vote, and that will remain true once she has departed.

But her resignation will leave Republicans with at least one empty seat, likely until March, when a special election in Georgia to replace her is expected to be held, according to a state election official who spoke to Atlanta News First on Saturday.

The district is all but certain to elect a Republican to replace Greene, who won her seat with over 64% of the vote in 2024.

Special Election Set for Dec. 2 in Tennessee

A Tennessee special election slated for Dec. 2 to replace Rep. Mark Green, a Republican who resigned in July, is largely considered an easy opportunity for the party to pick up another seat. But even as the GOP candidate remains favored in that race, a strong push by Democrats has some Republicans sweating over the slight chance of an upset.

The speaker’s office said Saturday that it was looking to that election and the 2026 midterms to firm up Republicans’ hold on the House, and dismissed the idea that Greene’s sudden and acrimonious exodus was a setback.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Greg Steele, a political spokesperson for Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee’s media affairs director, said in an interview. “We know it’s a tight majority, and we’re going to do everything we can to grow it in two weeks and then next year and beyond.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Megan Mineiro/Maddie McGarvey

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