It may not be a big red wave, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) certainly wasn’t predicting doom and gloom for the midterms.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
Reactions to both the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais and the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision on the commonwealth’s redistricting ballot measure have positioned legislative maps to be a potential game changer in the 2026 midterms. While Democrats have gone as far as to reportedly consider ousting the Virginia jurists to suit their agenda, Johnson found optimism looking toward November and the potential for “double digit” gains for the House GOP.
“I’m convinced we’re gonna defy history and keep the majority here so we can keep all this going,” the speaker told “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade during an interview Tuesday.
A sobering reminder of the losing record for the incumbent president’s party in midterm elections wasn’t enough to dissuade Johnson, who expressed his belief that a pickup of seven or eight seats was attainable, and “maybe double digits, depending on how many states get involved.”
“… it’s only happened a couple of times in the last 90 years — the sitting president picked up seats for his party. But this is a midterm unlike any other … We have a great record to run on, we’ve got better candidates in the field, we’re applying common sense again, that’s a big thing,” he went on, before speaking to President Donald Trump’s involvement in the election cycle. “He’s out on the campaign trail as well because the stakes are so high.”
“We can’t lose the majority in the House because it would come crashing down around him, and you’re gonna have a lot of factors in play that have been a factor in previous midterms. We’re gonna win,” argued the speaker as redistricting efforts in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee were raised.
At the beginning of the month, Indiana Republicans who stood against redistricting efforts felt the sting of opposing the will of the people as numerous incumbents lost to candidates in favor of the measure with the endorsement of Trump.
Republicans take election night shellacking from Trump candidates after helping Dems kill redistricting bid https://t.co/Io0P6OT6oV
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 6, 2026
In addition to course-correcting the legislative map away from the racial gerrymandering imposed by Democrats over the years, Johnson also addressed the increasing tendency of the left to support extreme candidates in elections.
Kilmeade brought up Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Graham Platner in Maine, along with socialist Mayors Zohran Mamdani of New York and Katie Wilson of Seattle, before positing, “People say this is just like what the Republicans went through after they lost to [President Barack Obama], they had the TEA Party. Is this the same to you?”
“Very different because, the way I describe it in summary is that they’re little mini Mamdanis popping up all around the country, okay? And they’re openly about socialist, Marxist ideology,” contended Johnson. “This is something that we have never seen before in American history. The TEA Party reset in the Republican Party was about fiscal responsibility. This is about moving away from a constitutional republic to a communist utopian ideology, and that’s a dangerous thing for the future of the country.”
NEW: House Speaker Mike Johnson sounds the alarm on “mini Mamdanis” to @kilmeade as Democrats trend toward electing socialists around the country:
BRIAN KILMEADE: “Democrats seem to be nominating some extreme candidates… People say, ‘This is just like what the Republicans went… pic.twitter.com/5jrTnZo1Al
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 13, 2026
“The problem we have is the insurgent left — far left — has all the energy, and excitement and the money of the Democrat Party,” said the speaker. “This is not our fathers’ Democratic Party anymore. They’re going far, far left, and no one’s there to stop it.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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