Speaker Mike Johnson, who shares ‘a little secret’ with Trump, fights to keep the House

Speaker Mike Johnson was plucked from obscurity to corral a historically unpredictable, at times chaotic, House Republican majority and has defied expectations by surviving more than a year in the post.

But Johnson (R-La.), who overcame a GOP-driven attempt to oust him from the job, is now staring down his most difficult obstacle yet: delivering the House majority.

If Republicans keep the House and former president Donald Trump wins, Johnson could become one of the most powerful figures in a conservative push to transform the country and remake the federal government. If Vice President Kamala Harris wins and Democrats take the House, that agenda will be on the line - and so will Johnson’s job.

And then there’s the question of whether the speaker, an election denier, will accept the results. Trump recently claimed the two shared “a little secret” that could have a “big impact” - alternately interpreted as an innocuous remark about the ground game, or evidence of an antidemocratic plot. Johnson said it was the former.

He has spent the past month crisscrossing the country, spending the final weeks of the campaign telling voters in competitive districts in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that the country cannot afford to have Democrats leading the House or the White House.

On one of the two days he spent at home in Shreveport, Louisiana, in the past month, Johnson said by phone that he was finalizing his plans for a Republican trifecta in Washington - winning the White House, House and Senate - and planning for the first 100 days of a second Trump presidency.

Johnson often talks about how abruptly he was called to serve as the highest ranking Republican in the federal government and how many political battles he’s fought since. With days to go until Election Day, he is living “in the twilight zone” of campaigning, he said, and managing the “daily crises” that are a feature of his professional life.

“I’ve sort of served as a wartime speaker,” he said. “There hasn’t been a normal day since.”

One such unexpected moment emerged at a campaign event in New York City last weekend, when Trump praised Johnson and suggested the two of them have a “little secret” that will have “a big impact” in House races.

The comment renewed concern that Johnson would not certify the 2024 election results next year, a claim he has repeatedly denied in interviews, saying, elliptically, that he would certify any free and fair election. As a backbencher in 2020, the constitutional lawyer corralled 125 House Republicans to sign a Supreme Court brief that sought to invalidate President Joe Biden’s win in four battleground states.

“What was the secret?” a voter asked Johnson at a campaign event in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley on Monday.

Johnson said it was nothing more than conversations about a get-out-the-vote “tactic” and not a “diabolical” or “scandalous” effort to overturn the election, according to the Hill.

Johnson said he told Trump that morning that he would help put an end to the speculation about the remark. “No, no, Mikey,” Johnson said mimicking Trump’s voice. The two men, Johnson added, were “just having sport” with the media.

Johnson has been able to form a close relationship with Trump and has managed to stay in his good graces even though the MAGA wing of the House GOP conference often voted against Johnson’s wishes to fund the government, send aid to foreign allies, and reauthorize a divisive section of a foreign surveillance law. Hard-liners have often blocked the majority from passing conservative legislation, ultimately forcing the speaker to rely on House Democrats to govern.

His willingness to work with Democrats contributed to Johnson almost meeting the same fate as his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California), but he survived the motion to oust him thanks to a majority of Republicans and Democrats who believed he did right by sending foreign aid to war-torn Ukraine.

Trump refrained from criticizing Johnson during those tense intraparty feuds, even going as far as to publicly endorse his leadership despite that fact that the former president’s staunchest ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), led the charge to oust the speaker from his job.

“It’s not easy when you have a majority of three, but he’s done a great job and he’s going to continue to do a great job. And we like him, he’s a terrific person,” Trump said about Johnson during his New York City rally last weekend. “Such a nice looking guy, just that little beautiful face with the glasses.”

Several vulnerable House Republicans have privately worried about how the Trump-Johnson alliance might shape a second term, according lawmakers and aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private dynamics among House Republicans. This term, these sources noted, moderates were forced to make tough votes, including on abortion access, to appease far-right demands.

Their alliance, “won’t make it easier for us to win reelection,” said one moderate House Republican.

For now, Johnson and most House Republicans are focused on winning - and finding a way to actually get things done.

With less than a week until Election Day, roughly two dozen districts remain competitive. To hold the majority, Republicans must defend all the seats they currently hold and prevent Democrats from flipping four.

Johnson said House Republicans have focused this cycle on recruiting “work horses, not show ponies,” who will prioritize governance over grandstanding. This year saw a record number of Republicans campaign against each other in the primaries and discussions about whether to punish members who repeatedly vote against the majority.

“The nature of a legislative body is that you have to be prepared to compromise your preferences sometimes,” Johnson said. “No one is ever going to get 100 percent of what they want, unless you’re naming a post office in your district.”

If he remains speaker, Johnson will once again face pressure from every corner of his ideologically fractured Republican conference, including demands from Trump.

On the trail this year, Johnson has traveled to 235 cities across 40 states gaining a “bird eyes view” of national politics for the first time in his seven year political career.

Campaigning has also given Johnson the opportunity to build political power. In the early days of his speakership, some House Republicans were not willing to follow his directives because he, unlike McCarthy, had never campaigned or fundraised for them. Some House Republicans worried that losing the former speaker’s fundraising and strategy prowess could hurt their chances of keeping the majority.

Johnson had to learn different parts of the job as he went, including how to ask donors for money. “God prepares you for the things that you’re called to do,” he said, and working as “door-to-door encyclopedia salesman” in college prepared him to pitch and land a sale.

Johnson has quelled doubts, donating $26 million to the House GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican congressional Committee, over the past year and raising $27.5 million in the third quarter, according to his political team and public filings.

If the election goes Republicans’ way and they hold all levers of government, Johnson believes he and his leadership team could quickly pass legislation to address concerns at the border before working with a GOP Senate to prioritize reauthorizing Trump’s tax law, which is set to expire at the end of 2025, within the first 100 days. Johnson also pledged “massive reform” of the Affordable Care Act.

Johnson said he is not allowing himself to think about too many hypotheticals - including whether he’d run for minority leader if Republicans lose the majority. But one conversation he has had with colleagues is about how to reform the House rules that govern how the body operates. He said he wants to “reset some parameters” after hard-liners tried to oust him. It currently takes just one member to call for such a vote.

For now, Johnson said his priority is to “stay laser focused” on the House majority. “I guess I’ll write memoirs in 25 or 30 years. It’ll probably be very illuminating,” he said with a chuckle.

“But right now, I’ve just got to keep my hand at the wheel.”