Exclusive: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, plans to travel to 20 states this month to campaign across the country for House Republicans and candidates in an effort to retain the majority in November, Fox News Digital has learned.
Johnson plans to visit key districts in states including Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut to meet with candidates and raise funds.
Republicans are scrambling to regroup after President Biden dropped out of the presidential race just two weeks ago and effectively named Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
Harris is now preparing to travel to battleground states, starting in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and including Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. She is expected to announce her running mate before a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
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Hours after the House of Representatives passed a resolution censuring Vice President Kamala Harris over the incident, House Speaker Mike Johnson made a surprise visit to the border. (Getty Images)
“House Republicans are on the offensive to expand their majorities across the country. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have destroyed our economy, opened our borders and invited chaos and war around the world,” Johnson told Fox News Digital.
“I look forward to meeting with Americans across the country and contrasting Harris’ disastrous and radical record with the common-sense, pro-growth, America First policies she will restore if we expand our Republican majority, flip the Senate, and win the White House.”
The 2024 election cycle is in its final stages with roughly three months left until Election Day.
Johnson has proven to be a powerful fundraiser for House Republicans, raising more than $18.5 million for the party’s campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), since becoming speaker in October.
The speaker is using part of his August tour to support frontline lawmakers, including a stop this week in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District with Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA).
Harris has backed away from some of the far-left positions she previously promoted.
Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans’ district is the biggest battleground for Democrats and is one of Johnson’s first stops this month.
He also plans to visit blue states California, New York and New Jersey, home to a handful of swing seats that will be crucial in Republicans seizing control of the House of Representatives from Democrats in November 2021.
This week, Johnson will visit Maine’s 2nd Congressional District to attend the dedication of a new NRCC battle station, a program launched earlier this year to provide additional local resources to campaigns in key districts where Republicans are hoping to unseat moderate Democrat Rep. Jared Golden.
With the 81-year-old Biden out of the race, Democrats are experiencing a new wave of enthusiasm for Harris.
The former California senator’s campaign said it raised a record $310 million in July alone, $200 million of which came in Biden’s first week after leaving office.
But Johnson and other Republicans continue to express confidence in Harris, arguing that she is an equal partner in the Biden administration’s progressive policies.
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Johnson also visited the district of moderate Democratic Rep. Jared Golden. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Speaking to Fox News Digital at the Republican National Convention last month, just days before Biden’s announcement, the chairman said it didn’t matter who was at the top of the Democratic nominee list.
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“As President Trump said, they were prepared to run against Biden, but that’s not the point. I mean, if you put Kamala Harris at the top of the list, she becomes a co-owner of every policy, and that’s not good,” Johnson said in Milwaukee.
“It doesn’t matter who runs, it can be whoever they want to put in that position. This election isn’t about a person, it’s about policies and what they mean to people.”
