MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Let's talk now about another key player in Washington - Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. A Louisiana Republican, he's been serving as speaker for about a year. These days, he is on the campaign trail and making plans for another term as speaker.
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MIKE JOHNSON: When we take control again and we have unified government - when we have the White House, the Senate and the House - we're going to have the most aggressive first 100 days agenda that, Congress, you've ever seen.
MARTIN: Johnson is spending the final weeks of the election season campaigning in dozens of competitive races where control of the majority will be decided. NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh is with us now to talk about the Republicans' prospects and the speaker's future. Good morning.
DEIRDRE WALSH, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: I think people may remember that Johnson being elected speaker kind of came out of nowhere.
WALSH: Right.
MARTIN: And now he's standing next to former President Trump, pitching total GOP control in Washington. What are the chances that they'll succeed?
WALSH: You know, most people I talked to in both parties believe that control of the House is going to track with the race at the top of the ticket. And as we know, that race is really tight. In terms of the Senate, Republicans are likely to pick up enough seats. They just - need just two to win back control. The campaign for the House is being waged in such a small percentage of the 435 House seats - roughly 15% are considered in play. And many of these - the ones that Johnson has been traveling to - are in blue states like New York and California. It's just a much different dynamic than the swing states where the presidential race is being decided. If Republicans lose a total of four seats, Democrats would retake the majority.
Johnson told our colleague, Claudia Grisales, who caught up with him on the West Coast recently, he's confident that Republicans are actually going to pick up seats and he will be reelected to a second term. He uses a football metaphor, saying it doesn't make sense to change the quarterback when deciding who's going to call the plays. Republican lawmakers I talked to say it's really just going to come down to election results. If they keep the House, he's positioned to stay speaker.
MARTIN: And how big of a factor is former President Trump to Mike Johnson's future?
WALSH: Huge. It's just a big reason he's still in the job, is that relationship with Trump. Johnson was already an ally of Trump's back in 2020. He was the author of a legal brief that he filed challenging the electoral count. He touts his conversations with Trump in campaign stops across the country. He talks about an agenda that begins on Day 1 with border security, and then he says they're going to focus quickly on renewing Trump's 2017 tax cuts. Those are going to expire at the end of 2025. He talks about passing energy bills. He also emphasizes Republicans want to take a blowtorch to regulations. And recently, at a campaign stop, he talked about making changes to Obamacare.
MARTIN: I think because we've had so much focus on the presidential race, people might forget that the past year has been pretty chaotic for him with divisions inside his own party stalling GOP bills. So how is he saying that he would keep Republicans together going forward?
WALSH: You know, right now House Republicans are all focused on the elections. And Johnson is getting high marks from his colleagues for raising a ton of money campaigning for them and for Republican challengers across the country. In this month alone, he's traveled to 65 cities in 24 states. He keeps pitching his agenda and his ties to Trump.
In terms of running the House in the last year, Mike Johnson admits it was one of the - it's been one of the most complicated speakerships in history. He talks about presiding over this super-slim majority and facing criticism from his own members. Remember, he's faced threats to oust him from his own Republican colleagues, and some of them have blocked GOP bills from even getting votes because they say they're not conservative enough. He also talks about his accomplishments. But just on the bare minimum job, he's had to rely on Democrats to avoid shutdowns.
MARTIN: And what would GOP leadership look like if they lose the House?
WALSH: To use Johnson's own football metaphor, as the party's quarterback, if their strategy fumbles, he will likely be replaced as the top leader. Others say if Republicans lose the House, it's going to be a free-for-all, and we could see a lot of changes in the leadership.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Deirdre, thank you.
WALSH: Thanks, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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