House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Saturday that he is taking ownership of his party’s midterm defeat. In his first interview since the election, he explained why he will not run for House minority leader once Democrats take control of Congress in January.
Johnson joined Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany on “Saturday in America.” He said he reached the decision “pretty quickly” after Democrats won majorities in both the House and Senate.
“Pretty quickly after election night. We worked around the clock, left it all on the field to win,” Johnson said. “We don’t like the results. But, you know, real leadership, I’ve always believed, you know, you lead from the front, and leaders have to take responsibility when things go wrong whether it’s, you know, individually deserved or not, that’s part of it.”
Johnson made similar comments to Bloomberg Government, saying he and his wife, Kelly, prayed and talked it over on election night.
“We came to the quick conclusion that a leader has to take responsibility for what happens — whether you deserve it or not,” Johnson said. “I have a real peace in my heart in knowing there’s not a single additional thing I could have done to change the outcome of the Election Night.”
The Louisiana Republican rose unexpectedly to the speakership in 2023 and has held the gavel for more than 1,000 days. During that time he pushed conservative tax cuts through a razor-thin majority and presided over the longest government shutdown in history.
The midterm results were brutal for Republicans. Democrats flipped GOP-held seats in battleground states including Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Maine and Iowa.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who announced this week that she will not run for president in 2028, pointed to voter frustration over the economy. “Republicans had the House, the Senate and the presidency for two years and they saw no change,” she said, citing high inflation, the cost of living and interest rates.
Johnson also used the Fox News interview to address the FAA ground stop that halted thousands of flights. He said more FAA funding will be part of an “aggressive legislative” package Republicans want to pass before they lose their majorities in January.
“We got about $12 billion, almost $13 billion in the Working Families Tax Cut to sort of assist as a down payment on that,” Johnson said. “But the problem is we could not get any Democrats to assist. So we had to do that only with Republican votes. And so we did get that to the president’s desk for signature. That investment is being made, but we need a lot more.”
Johnson spent the months before the election predicting that Republicans would defy history. In late September he told Fox Business, “I’m telling you that we can win the midterms, and I am very bullish about that.” He called the race “a contrast election between common sense and crazy.”
Voters did not agree. With Democrats taking control of both chambers in January, Johnson will hand off the leadership of House Republicans to someone else.
