Mike Johnson: Republicans 'will win the midterms and grow the majority'

Mike Johnson was optimistic ahead of the midterm elections and spoke of "bucking the historical trend." In an interview with Michael Knowles during the Republican retreat in Doral, Florida, the chairman of the House of Representatives assured that the GOP will increase its majority in Congress.

For several decades now, it has been customary for the party in the White House to lose one or both houses of Congress in midterm elections. From 1950 to 2022, only two presidents managed to win House seats: Bill Clinton in 1998 and George W. Bush in 2002.

Despite this dark trend for the president's party, Johnson was very confident heading into Nov. 3: “I’m very bullish about the midterms. I’m absolutely convinced we are going to win the midterms and grow the majority. It will defy the historic trend." 

"The Democrats have no leadership."

"We have a fundraising advantage right now because the stakes are so high—Republicans over Democrats for the first time in 10 years. Democrats are at historic lows in approval ratings. They have no leadership, no message, no vision for where they’re going. Their whole platform is that they hate Donald Trump. Well, good luck with that. That’s not exactly something to sell to constituents," he added.

Currently, both the House Republican leadership and its members are on retreat in Doral, Florida. This is a tradition where members meet privately for three days to discuss strategy and public policy outside of Washington, D.C..

From there, Johnson also spoke with Knowles about the SAVE Act, a Republican election reform proposal that seeks to require people registering to vote to present proof of citizenship and a photo ID.

The bill has already passed the House and is in the Senate, where Republicans will send it to a vote next week. Under upper chamber rules, they must reach 60 votes, so they would need at least seven Democrats to vote for it.

In addition to the filibuster, the Senate rule that requires at least 60 votes to end debate on a piece of legislation and move forward with a vote, Johnson was concerned about possible actions by Democrats.

"[Senate Republicans] are concerned that if they open the talking filibuster. Democrats could flood the field with thousands of amendments. There’s no germaneness limitation. They can add any crazy Democrat policy they want. (...) They could file 1,400-page amendments and tie the Senate floor up for months,” Johnson said. “That’s what they’re concerned about," he noted.