Mike Johnson mounts 20-state blitz to keep House red as GOP braces for Harris VP reveal
Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is embarking on a 20-state tour this month to campaign for House Republicans and GOP candidates across the country, Fox News Digital has learned, in a bid to keep hold of his majority in November.
Johnson will be visiting key districts in Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Connecticut and other states to meet with candidates and fundraise.
Republicans have been rushing to recalibrate after President Biden dropped out of the White House race just two weeks ago, effectively anointing Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
Harris is now set to embark on her own battleground state blitz beginning with Pennsylvania on Tuesday and including Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. She’s expected to reveal her chosen running mate sometime before Tuesday’s event in Philadelphia.
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“House Republicans are on offense to grow our majority from coast to coast. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wrecked our economy, opened our border, and invited chaos and wars around the world,” Johnson told Fox News Digital.
“I look forward to meeting with Americans across our country and contrasting Harris’ disastrous and radical record with common sense, pro-growth, and America First policies that Republicans will reinstate when we grow the majority, flip the Senate, and win the White House.”
The 2024 election cycle is in its final sprint with roughly three months left until Election Day.
Johnson has proven to be a potent fundraiser for the House GOP, bringing in more than $18.5 million for his conference’s campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), since he became speaker in October.
The speaker is using part of his August tour to bolster his frontline lawmakers, with a stop planned this week in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District with Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va.
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He’s also planning visits in blue states where a handful of swing seats in California, New York, New Jersey were critical to the GOP wrestling control of the House from Democrats in November 2021.
This week, Johnson will also be in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District for the opening of a new NRCC battle station, a program rolled out earlier this year to give campaigns in key districts more on-the-ground resources. There, Republicans hope to unseat moderate Democrat Rep. Jared Golden.
It comes as Democrats are enjoying a new surge of enthusiasm over Harris after 81-year-old Biden ducked out of the race.
The former California senator’s campaign announced it raised a record-breaking $310 million in July alone, with $200 million coming in the first week following Biden stepping aside.
But Johnson and other Republicans have continued to project confidence, insisting that Harris is an equal owner of the Biden administration’s progressive agenda.
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The speaker told Fox News Digital at the Republican National Convention (RNC) last month, days before Biden’s announcement, that it did not matter who was at the top of Democrats’ ticket.
“As President Trump has said, he was, they had sort of prepared in the mindset that they would run against Biden, but it doesn’t matter. I mean, if they put Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, she’s the co-owner of all the policies. It’s not any better,” Johnson said in Milwaukee.
“It doesn’t matter who they run. Anybody that they would put in that place. This election is not about personalities — it’s about policies and what it means to people.”