BANGOR, Maine – House Speaker Mike Johnson remains confident Republicans can preserve their U.S. House majority, even as Democrats build momentum in the final days of the midterm campaign that will decide control of Congress.
Johnson points to the crowds he has encountered while campaigning nationwide, the strength of Republican candidates and incumbents he describes as “workhorses” rather than “show horses,” and the nearly $500 million he has helped raise for House Republicans.
He also says his faith reinforces that optimism.
“We run to win, and that’s biblical: You run to win,” he told The Associated Press during a campaign stop in Maine.
“And I believe that we will.”
As speaker of the House, Johnson is among the country’s most influential elected officials and stands second in the presidential line of succession. He recently joked to Fox News that he could return to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, to open a lawn-care business if Republicans lose power on Nov. 3. Still, he expects to defy the long-standing midterm pattern in which the president’s party loses ground in Congress.
Johnson, who has grown particularly close to President Donald Trump and routinely takes calls from him as late as 1 a.m., projects confidence despite voter frustration over high prices, the war with Iran and the difficulty of managing one of the narrowest House majorities in modern history. Trump and Johnson spoke the night before the interview as the president rallied in Alaska.
During his three years as speaker, Johnson has repeatedly overcome predictions that his fragile Republican coalition would collapse. He kept the party’s slim majority aligned behind Trump’s agenda, including the passage of a sweeping bill combining tax breaks with cuts to social programs. On most legislative days, Republicans have had virtually no votes to spare.
“So many times everybody had written off, there was no way he was going to be able to pull off a particular vote,” said Republican Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina, who accompanied Johnson on the campaign trip. “Yet he always seems to pull out the win in the end.”
Johnson did not predict a sweeping Republican victory as confidently as he has in the past. But with plans to visit more than 20 states and 40 congressional districts before November, he said the political atmosphere recalls the 2024 election, when Republicans captured both Congress and the White House.
“It’s not going to be a giant majority,” he said. “But I genuinely believe that we will have a working majority.”
Accidental speaker becomes emboldened by Trump
Johnson arrived at the speakership almost unexpectedly in 2023, when House Republicans turned to him after a group of rebellious members ousted his predecessor, then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
At the time, Johnson was a relatively junior member of House leadership. He had, however, established himself as a leading defender of Trump before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by rallying support for Trump’s false allegations of widespread fraud in the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Since then, Johnson has moved closer to Trump’s inner circle. He attended a UFC fight with the president in New York and presented Trump with a speaker’s gavel as Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law. Though symbolic, the gesture drew criticism from those who said it appeared to surrender the authority of a coequal branch of government.
More recently, Johnson abruptly sent lawmakers home early instead of allowing a vote demanded by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The move came as lawmakers sought to stop the war with Iran, a conflict Congress has not formally authorized.
Over coffee in Bangor after campaigning for House candidate Paul LePage, a former governor, Johnson rejected claims that Congress has weakened under his leadership while Trump works to expand executive power.
“Absolute nonsense,” Johnson said.
“We did not yield Article One authority to the president,” he said, referring to the constitutional powers assigned to Congress. Instead, Johnson argued, lawmakers exercised that authority to advance Republican priorities despite Democratic opposition.
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As House majority teeters, Trump’s agenda is at risk
Johnson has focused the election on Democrats he portrays as “communists.” A handful of far-left liberals, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, are on the ballot.
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader who is in line for the speaker’s gavel if his party sweeps to power, is preparing a first-100 days agenda for when the new Congress convenes in January, if there is a change in control.
What the Republicans will do if they retain power is less defined.
“Lots of plans,” Johnson said, “along the same course of what we’ve been doing — less taxes, less regulation.”
Trump “wants to go big for his legacy,” he said. “We have big things on the horizon that we can do.”
The president has essentially purged the House GOP ranks of those perceived to be disloyal. Among them are Massie, who lost his primary, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia retired early after breaking with Trump over release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Pressed how he would keep Republicans in line, Johnson said he is preparing to change the House rules if he returns as speaker.
“There’s going to be some changes that are going to make the machinery work smoother,” he said.
Praying for the speaker, and the country
Faith has often been strong among House leaders. Two former speakers, Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich are Catholics, as is John Boehner, who invited Pope Francis to address Congress.
Johnson, a former constitutional lawyer who was first elected alongside Trump in 2016, is expected to win his own reelection next month.
“My faith is a huge component of how I think and how I act and what I do,” said Johnson, who led a public prayer on the National Mall as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
He is drinking lots of coffee these days, he said, cutting back on the Celsius, and still has 1,413 unread text messages, a slight dip from the frightful number reported a few months ago by The Wall Street Journal.
One text is from someone praying for him.
Johnson said he is grateful for the outpouring of prayers he receives, for him and the country.
“I pray for God’s will. And I believe God’s will is for us — and not the communists — to be in charge of America,” Johnson said.
“And it does say in the New Testament, you run the race to win,” he said, citing 1 Corinthians 9:24. “This is a biblical admonition. So we will.”
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