Johnson leans on Trump in frantic push to save House majority

By Manu Raju and Haley Talbot, CNN

FRANKLIN SQUARE, New York (CNN) — It’s been two years of a chaotic GOP-led House. But this time, Speaker Mike Johnson insists, things will be different.

As he barnstorms through blue districts central to the fight for the House, Johnson is seeking to nationalize the battle for the majority, promising an “aggressive” 100-day agenda and aligning himself closely with Donald Trump, even taking selfie videos with supporters and texting them to the former president, like he did in this battleground Long Island district that tilts Democratic.

In an interview with CNN, Johnson predicted that a unified GOP Washington would mean less of the infighting that derailed the Republican agenda over the past two years. He also walked back his suggestion from earlier this week that they do away with the Affordable Care Act, a sharp departure from the yearslong GOP effort to kill the Democratic health law.

Yet the speaker did little to alleviate Democratic fears that Trump would be largely unchecked if he wins again and Republicans control Congress, downplaying Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of “cheating” in this year’s election and shrugging off the former president’s repeated calls to retaliate against his political foes. And he contended that the “little secret” Trump promoted is simply a get-out-the-vote effort, even as he wouldn’t say outright that he’d accept the election results if Vice President Kamala Harris wins no-matter-what.

Asked if he would accept a Harris win next week, Johnson said: “Yes, look, I’m going to qualify this, and this is going to make everybody freak out again. If it’s a free and fair election,” arguing that some House Democrats have refused to say if they’d certify a Trump win.

As he barnstorms the country, raising tens of millions of dollars and traveling through more than 20 states in October alone, Johnson is calculating that swing-district Republicans will need a boost from the MAGA base in order to pull out victory in a high-turnout election. It’s a departure from previous election cycles when vulnerable members in purple districts would often shy away from the top of the ticket and their national party.

But in a polarized electorate, Trump’s success on Tuesday is critical for Johnson – both for the majority and for his own political future.

“Very often,” Johnson told CNN when asked how often he speaks with the former president. “It’s very important for what we think is going to be ahead of us, for us to have a very close working relationship.”

If the GOP loses the House, the blame game will play out in full force, and it remains an open question whether Johnson will try to run for House minority leader, something Johnson insists he has “not given one second of thought to.” But if Republicans win the chamber, he stands the favorite to remain as speaker – though he almost certainly would have another tight majority, a dynamic that led to two years of disarray in the House and the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Asked how he would avoid the pitfalls that dogged the GOP over the last two years, Johnson said he’s “convinced we’re going to have a larger majority this time.”

“Then, if we have unified government, if Trump’s in the White House, and we have the Senate as well, I think everybody on my side is going to be in a much better mood,” Johnson told CNN. “And I think they’ll want to be part of the reform agenda and not a speed bump in the way.”

But whichever party is in charge almost certainly will have a tight majority. And with 60 votes needed to advance most bills in the Senate, even a GOP-led chamber would run into pitfalls trying to pass more partisan bills out of the House.

The battle for the House has centered largely on 16 GOP seats in districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020 and five Democratic seats in districts Trump won. And the House could hinge largely on the outcome of battles in California and New York, including five GOP freshmen from the Empire State whose victories flipped the House in 2022.

Indeed, outside groups have poured in $110.7 million on air in New York House races alone, according to data from AdImpact, making it the most of any state. And through Election Day, $850 million will have been spent in the overall battle for the House, with Democrats spending $100 million-plus more than GOP groups, making it the most expensive fight for the House majority ever.

What Johnson is promising: An “aggressive” 100-day agenda taking aim at federal regulations, extending the GOP tax cuts and following Trump’s cues if he’s back in the Oval Office.

“We’ll run a legislative agenda that follows his executive orders, and immediately then we’ll turn to the economy,” Johnson told a crowd of Nassau County Republicans this week. “We’re going to turn the engines of the free market right back on. … We’re going to extend the Trump era tax cuts, because they’re going to expire next year if we don’t fix that. And then you know what we’re going to do next? We’re going to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state.”

But after suggesting earlier this week that it was time for Obamacare to go, and enduring backlash from Harris in the aftermath, Johnson told CNN that Republicans would not repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite the yearslong GOP effort to do so.

“Look, we are laser focused on improving health care as we are every area,” Johnson said. “We need higher quality of care in many parts of the country. We need greater access. We need lower cost. And there are ideas on how to do that. That’s what I was referring to.”

But Johnson’s allegiance to Trump has been a source of tension with Democrats, including over the baseless notion of mass election fraud. Just this week, Trump contended that there’s “cheating” in Pennsylvania, echoing his bogus claims in the 2020 election.

Johnson defended the former president.

“Trump is not sowing doubts,” Johnson said. “What he and all of us are trying to do is have accountability to ensure that we don’t have hijinks and irregularities.”

Yet it’s unified GOP control of Washington that has sparked Democratic fears that Trump would be unchecked, especially as he has warned repeatedly that he would target his enemies.

But Johnson insisted Trump is “not going to go after his enemies,” despite it being a common campaign refrain for the former president.

“So all this hyperbole trying to scare people, it’s nonsense,” Johnson said. “That’s not going to happen. We’re going to follow the law.”

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, David Wright, Kaanita Iyer and Max Rego contributed to this report

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