OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republicans have won back the White House and the U.S. Senate in the 2024 race and now all eyes are on the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with Axios and revealed that he is feeling pretty good about his job security.
As the election results unfolded on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, Johnson—who was once seen as a temporary leader—said he was sure that House Republicans would keep their majority and choose him to stay as speaker.
“We’ve been working for a year … preparing this playbook that we’ll talk about all the time for the next Congress. So if we’re going to … run those plays and execute them with precision, you got to keep the quarterback on the field and keep the same team,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview from his campaign headquarters.
Johnson told his campaign team in his war room that he doesn’t see a way that former President Trump could win the White House and the GOP lose the House.
Early Wednesday morning, Trump was getting closer to getting the Electoral College votes he needed to get a second term. But Johnson said it was likely that any majority would stay small.
“New York and California were always the road to the majority, and there’s still a giant question mark over California. So I just hope that what I saw there on the ground translates to the ballot,” Johnson said.
Exclusive: Mike Johnson’s bullish on keeping House https://t.co/mTa0hOWeio
— Axios (@axios) November 6, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump said “God spared [his] life for a reason” during his victory speech at Trump Headquarters early Wednesday morning.
Trump, who has been the target of two assassination attempts since July, shared his appreciation for a second presidency during his 25-minute speech from West Palm Beach, Florida.
“This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again. And in addition to having won the battleground states of North Carolina — I love these places — Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, we are now winning in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska, which would result in us carrying at least 315 electoral votes. But it’s much easier doing what the networks did, or whoever called it, because there was no other path. There was no other path to victory. We also have won the popular vote. That was great. That was great,” Trump said as the crowd cheered and chanted “USA! USA!”
“Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness,” Trump said. “And now we are going to fulfill that mission together.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much. Winning the popular vote was very nice, I will tell you. It’s a great feeling of love. We have a great feeling of love in this very large room, with unbelievable people standing by my side. These people have been incredible. They have made the journey with me and we are going to make you very happy. We will make you very proud of your vote,” he said.
“I hope that you’re going to be looking back someday and say, ‘That was one of the truly important moments of my life, when I voted for this group of people, beyond the president. This group of great people.’ America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. We have taken back control of the Senate. Wow, that’s great,” Trump declared.
He continued: “The task before us will not be easy, but I will bring every ounce of energy, spirit, and fighting that I have in my soul to the job that you’ve entrusted to me.”
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“We are going to fix our borders, we are going to fix everything about our country. We made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that. We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it’s now clear that we have achieved the most incredible political — look what happened. Is this crazy?” Trump declared.
“But it’s a political victory that our country has never seen before. Nothing like this. I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president, and your 45th president,” he said.
Trump continued, “And every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future. Every single day I’ll be fighting for you, and with every breath in my body. I will not rest until he have delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America. That’s what we have tonight.”
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. We have taken back control of the Senate. Wow, that’s great. And the Senate races in Montana, Nevada, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were all won by the MAGA movement, they helped so much,” Trump said.
He added: “And in those cases, every one of them, we worked with the senators, they were tough races. The number of victories in the Senate was absolutely incredible. And we did tele rallies.”
