Rep. Kevin Kiley of California announced Monday that he is leaving the Republican Party and registering as an independent, immediately shrinking House Speaker Mike Johnson’s already razor-thin majority in the lower chamber.
According to the Washington Post, the move narrows the number of registered Republicans in the House to 217, with Democrats holding 214 seats and three vacancies remaining. Kiley will be the chamber’s only independent member.
Despite leaving the party, Kiley said he will continue caucusing with Republicans — at least for now. “I’ve always said I’ll be an independent voice for our district,” Kiley told reporters. He added that remaining attached to the Republican conference is necessary for “administrative purposes,” including keeping his committee assignments, which run through party leadership.
Kiley did not give House GOP leaders advance notice of his decision. Spokespeople for Johnson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
As Axios reports, the decision follows California’s mid-decade redistricting, which dismantled Kiley’s Republican-leaning 3rd District and forced him to run in the far more Democratic 6th District. He is now set to face off against a crowded field that includes Democratic incumbent Ami Bera, who currently represents the 6th District, along with Democrats Richard Pan and Thien Ho.
“I reached a decision that, since gerrymandering seeks to elevate partisanship above everything else in our politics and governance, the best way to counter gerrymandering and its insidious impacts on democracy is simply to take partisanship out of the equation,” Kiley said.
Politico notes that Kiley becomes the first independent member of the House since former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash left the Republican Party in 2019. He joins independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine as the only independents currently serving in Congress, though both Sanders and King caucus with Democrats.
Kiley, described as a moderate, has occasionally broken with Johnson on key votes. Last month, he was one of six Republicans who voted with Democrats to roll back President Trump’s stepped-up tariffs on Canada — a notable rebuke of the president’s trade policies.
Johnson is now left managing an increasingly fragile coalition as he navigates a packed legislative calendar. The speaker is under pressure from President Trump to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping elections overhaul, and is simultaneously wrestling with internal party divisions over a second budget reconciliation bill and additional war funding tied to the ongoing U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran.
Kiley stopped short of promising he will be a reliable vote for Johnson going forward, adding further uncertainty to the speaker’s ability to hold his conference together ahead of the November midterm elections.
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