Conservatives abandon Speaker Johnson challenger for alternative protest strategy

Hardline conservatives are abandoning their plan to nominate a challenger to Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) bid for the gavel during Wednesday's internal House GOP elections, opting for a different protest strategy to showcase resistance to his leadership, two sources familiar with the matter told The Hill.

The plan B — which members of the House Freedom Caucus are plotting — would involve forcing a secret, recorded vote on Johnson's nomination, according to the sources, who were granted...