Mike Johnson dislikes 10-year-plans. Right now, he’s focused on a 6-month plan to get through November, after which he’s expecting “a unified [Republican] government again.”
Johnson’s focuses on the present, he told the Washington Reporter, because “tomorrow has enough trouble of its own” — a sentiment that has served him well over the last chaotic year, as Johnson has been hit by a host of unexpected challenges and career changes. He couldn’t have imagined, for example, serving as Speaker of the House this Congress when he was sworn in for another term last year. Now, Johnson is looking forward to 2025, when he predicts that Republicans will have full control of the government. But unlike in 2017 when he was first sworn in with full GOP control, he wants Republicans to have a plan in place.
House Republicans have racked up a series of major policy wins and put their Democratic counterparts in Congress squarely on the defense, on everything from illegal immigrants voting to securing our southern border, since Johnson became Speaker in October 2023.
Johnson spoke with the Reporter about what’s next for the GOP, in November and beyond. Despite having the smallest-ever majority, Johnson laid out a policy approach around which he wants Republicans to unify: addressing “the wide-open border,” “confronting China,” and pushing back on the White House’s “war on the oil and gas industry.”
Beyond that, the Speaker told the Reporter that he wants to “prepare our reconciliation package, and that will be a product that we’ll use in the first quarter of next year.” He also wants to aggressively push back against the International Criminal Court’s targeting of Israel — even if the Biden administration has gone soft on the matter. It’s a “top priority of ours” that “we’re planning to move . . . legislation quickly” on. While most Democrats aren’t eager to attack the ICC, Johnson thinks that “it would defy logic for anyone in Congress to oppose it.” He noted that he delayed inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Congress until Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can potentially get on board with the plan, as a sign of good faith.
Like other Republicans, Johnson has made the trek to Manhattan to support President Donald Trump in his criminal case, which he said was for reasons beyond “political talking points.” While Trump was the one on trial, Johnson said that the case itself “should deeply concern every American. To maintain a constitutional republic, one of the fundamental elements that you must have is a belief by the people that their justice system can be trusted, that we really do have equal justice under the law.”
Looking ahead to November’s elections, Johnson praised the GOP’s efforts to recruit quality candidates, singling out House candidates Derek Merrin in Ohio and Nancy Dahlstrom in Alaska as fantastic recruits who will be able to oust longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) and freshman Democrat Mary Peltolta (D., Alaska), respectively. He also pointed to great candidates in North Carolina who, along with favorable redistricting, should help the GOP net “three, maybe four” seats in the Tar Heel State alone.
But it takes a village to keep the House in Republican hands, and Johnson lavished praise on the super-PAC he helps, the Congressional Leadership Fund, and its longtime president Dan Conston, who “has provided great leadership” through an otherwise chaotic cycle. Importantly, Johnson said, “we’re on track to raise the necessary amount of money that we will need to defend all of our incumbents and to flip some of these seats from blue to red, and we’re very bullish on the outcome in November. But we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.”
Finally, the man who is two heart beats away from the presidency provided insight to young Hill staffers, who make up a healthy contingent of the Reporter’s readership: stay grounded.
“A lot of young staffers feel the pressure that they’ve got to have a so-called 10 or 20 year plan,” he said. “I’ve never focused too much on that. I always focus on what I have to deal with today. And as scripture reminds us, tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.” The deeply-religious Johnson unsurprisingly said that he tries to follow “time-tested biblical admonitions, and one of those is both simple and profound, and that is that you just focus on being faithful and on the little things and then you trust even more.”
Success on the Hill “is just being faithful in whatever little thing you’re assigned today. And you do that well. And then the next thing is presented to you and it’s as simple as it sounds. It’s a good formula for success and it takes the pressure off.”
That’s some great advice we hope he has a chance to take himself–because the next six months are going to be endlessly chaotic.
Below is a transcript of the Reporter’s interview with Speaker Mike Johnson, edited lightly for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Everything’s looking pretty good for Republicans right now. If Republicans are able to successfully expand the majority, what is your plan for fiscal year 2025 working, we’re presuming, with President Donald Trump in the White House.
Speaker Mike Johnson:
Well, we are expecting to have a unified government again. That’s not just the polling, it’s anecdotal evidence, it’s what we’re sensing around the country. I have now been in over 110 cities and 28 states in the last six months campaigning with our incumbents and candidates. We just sense the enthusiasm on the ground and we feel like this will happen.
Because of that, we have a responsibility to be fully prepared to govern when we achieve unified government. Part of this is informed by my own experience and that of many of my colleagues.
I came in as a freshman in Congress in the 115th Congress, and that was in 2017. When President Trump came in, we had achieved unified government then as well. But the problem that year was that no one fully anticipated that it would be a reality. So a lot of the groundwork wasn’t completed to be prepared on day one. We don’t want to be caught in that situation again, so we’re preparing very methodically over the next six months to be prepared to govern on day one. And that will be an aggressive first 100 days’ agenda and first year legislative agenda. And all that deliberate work happens now, involving all of our various committees and the chairs of our committees, and of course, the whole leadership team. There’s a lot of work being done.
Washington Reporter:
Everyone likes lists of threes. What are the top three pre-election priorities that you want to get done, that Republicans can take to voters and say: “Give us a unified government. We’ve delivered on these things for you, keep us in charge.”
Speaker Mike Johnson:
Well, for the remainder of this Congress, of course, even though we have the smallest majority in history — soon we’ll be up to a two-vote margin — we’re going to continue to advance the principles and ideas and show the contrast between our side and theirs.
The biggest issue in the country is of course the wide-open border. We passed HR2 over a year ago, of course, and it hasn’t moved. We’ll continue to have many votes on border security and use our best efforts to secure that border, and in our emphasis and urgency in demanding that the president use his executive authority to uphold federal law and to secure the border. He won’t do it, but we’ll continue to press on it.
You’ll see our best efforts at confronting China. We’ve tended to do that as well, and at least lay the groundwork for a greatly improved energy policy. Of course, the White House declared war effectively on the oil and gas industry, and that has been terribly destructive to our economy and harmful to our national security. And so we’ll continue to draw the contrast on those issues as well.
And we’re working very methodically over the next few months to prepare our reconciliation package and that will be a product that we’ll use in the first quarter of next year. But to do that effectively, and to have a comprehensive policy agenda, unifying agenda, and we have to do that work now. That’ll be a big part of what we’re doing as well.
Washington Reporter:
Another wedge issue Republicans have effectively been working on is Israel. The Biden administration, John Kirby, recently said that it opposes U.S. sanctions on the International Criminal Court, which is emerging as a priority for some Republicans. Is sanctions legislation for the ICC on the table from the House side?
Speaker Mike Johnson:
It is. It’s a top priority of ours, and we’re planning to move that legislation quickly. We still hold out hope that it can be a bipartisan agreement on that. I think it would defy logic for anyone in Congress to oppose it. You know, the ICC is acting far beyond its scope and its jurisdiction here, and we don’t even recognize it as being legitimate. And it’s a direct affront to the sovereignty of Israel and ultimately to the United States as well. And the idea that they would want to issue arrest warrants when a country is fighting for its very survival is just completely outrageous to us. And it can’t just be lip service. It can’t just be tough language. We have to have action items as well and I think we need to send a message to the ICC that this is not acceptable. If this was allowed to go forward for Israel, you can be certain that the ICC probably in the days ahead, sooner than later, would attempt to use the same activities and measures against the United States. It’s a danger to all of us and I think Congress needs to recognize it as such and act accordingly.
Washington Reporter:
You’ve issued a lot of Israel-related legislation. Is there more coming down the pike that you think the Senate would actually work with you on, or do you just want to make sure to get Democrats on record with some tough votes?
Speaker Mike Johnson:
Well, listen, I’m hopeful that support of Israel and standing by our closest ally in the Middle East is something that can still unify the Congress. I’ve given my best efforts to make the joint invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to the joint session of Congress, to make that bipartisan. We delayed the issuance of the letter for many weeks now to allow the Democrats to join. That now is being done finally, and I spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu about that just yesterday. So I think finally, we will have that done and scheduled and and then, depending upon the developments there, I’m certain there will be further action that’s required by Congress, and I intend to lead that and I hope it’s bipartisan.
Washington Reporter:
You’re a lawyer, you were on the Judiciary Committee for a while. What’s your plan for the indictments and court cases against President Donald Trump? Will the House GOP react to these cases or push to reform the judicial system?
Speaker Mike Johnson:
Well, I’m deeply concerned — I’ve spoken about this at length, that the Democrats and the way they have weaponized our justice system is doing real and lasting harm to the system itself. You know, these are not political talking points. This is something that should deeply concern every American. To maintain a constitutional republic, one of the fundamental elements that you must have is a belief by the people that their justice system can be trusted, that we really do have equal justice under the law. And what has been shown here repeatedly now is that one of our parties, the Democratic Party, will use the justice system for their own political purposes. And you can call it lawfare because there’s no better explanation. I think that’s a great threat to our republic, regardless of who it’s used against, and so that’s the problem.
There’s real reform that’s needed at the federal and the state level, and local level as well with these rogue district attorneys. The election cycle will determine much of that because if we have unified government and we win the White House and the Senate and the House as we anticipate, we will have a real opportunity to fix some of that. It will begin with sound leadership at the top, it’s going to be very, very important who President Trump appoints as the attorney general, because there’s real reform needed in the Department of Justice in many of its divisions, and you’ll have to have sound visionary leadership to do that. And a lot of political courage as well. But I think the people are going to demand it, and they should.
Washington Reporter:
You didn’t set out to be Speaker this year, but you’ve had to all of a sudden work hand-in-glove with groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund. How has that been? Has that been a seamless kind of turnkey operation? How has it been being the face of the House GOP across the country?
Speaker Mike Johnson:
You know, it’s been an enjoyable part of the job. It’s a nonstop component of the job. And we travel almost endlessly, when we’re not in session, around the nation, we’ve been to over 100 cities in 28 states. That’s been an enjoyable part of it. The challenge is great, we understand the nation, our country is in dire straits right now. And this is arguably the most fateful election cycle of our lifetimes. And so it’s an important job and important tasks to be done. I’ve enjoyed supporting the CLF because I have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing. I think Dan Conston has provided great leadership there and they’ve been very effective at what they’re doing. So that’s a big component of all this as well. We’re on track to raise the necessary amount of money that we will need to defend all of our incumbents and to flip some of these seats from blue to red, and we’re very bullish on the outcome in November. But we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.
Washington Reporter:
As you’ve been traveling the country, are there any House GOP candidates who stand out to you — any places you feel candidate recruitment has pushed that district into competition?
Speaker Mike Johnson:
There’s many examples. Off the top of my head, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th District. Very strong candidate. That seat’s been held by Marcy Kaptur for over 30 years, but Trump won the district twice. Derek Merrin is an extraordinary candidate who was runner up to be Speaker of the House in the State Legislature running a very strong campaign and I’m confident that we can, we can finally flip that seat from blue to red.
We’re expecting to pick up at least three, maybe four seats in North Carolina because we’ve got really strong candidates there, and redistricting was favorable for us.
I’m thinking about Alaska. We recruited the lieutenant governor, Nancy Dahlstrom to run in that seat and that should be a Republican seat and I think we’ve got a great chance of winning it back. There’s cases like that all across the country, because the candidate recruitment process was very deliberate and we got really strong recruits. We recruited workhorses, and not show ponies. They’re running really strong campaigns. They have the right tone, the right message, they’re out there talking about the answers, not just what we’re against, but what we’re for. Our party genuinely has the answers for all the great challenges facing the country right now. And we need the right people to go out and present that and I’m really, really pleased with how that’s being done right now.
Washington Reporter:
A lot of young Hill staff in particular are going to read our outlet. So I’m curious–you’re one of the most powerful people in the country. You’re in line to succession if Joe Biden falls downstairs with Kamala Harris. What advice would you give to young staff on the Hill? How can they succeed and what traits make someone good, having been there from the rank and file to now heading the House?
Speaker Mike Johnson:
What I try to follow in practice always is the time-tested biblical admonitions, and one of those is both simple and profound, and that is that you just focus on being faithful and on the little things and then you trust even more. It’s a good thing to have goals and objectives and long-term vision and all of that, but what it really comes down to is just being faithful in whatever little thing you’re assigned today. And you do that well. And then the next thing is presented to you and it’s as simple as it sounds. It’s a good formula for success and it takes the pressure off.
I think a lot of young staffers feel the pressure that they’ve got to have a so-called 10 or 20 year plan. I’ve never focused too much on that. I always focus on what I have to deal with today. And as scripture reminds us, tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.
Washington Reporter:
Speaker Johnson, thank you for all of your work helping the GOP candidate recruitment coast to coast. We really appreciate your time. We appreciate all you do for Americans across the country.
Speaker Mike Johnson:
You got it brother.