Steve Scalise

WASHINGTON — Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — the two top Republicans in the U.S. House, who both want to keep those jobs — are barnstorming the nation to shore up GOP candidates in about two dozen states.

Many campaign handicappers, pundits and bettors predict a Democratic wave will sweep Republicans out of power on Capitol Hill. Democrats need to flip only four seats.

But, ever optimistic — and secure in their own races in Louisiana — both LSU grads are predicting Republicans will maintain the majority they’ve held in the House since 2023 and in the Senate since 2025.

“This midterm election is going to be one unlike any other in the past,” Johnson, R-Benton, said Wednesday at a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, rally called “Common Sense versus Crazy.”

“I can tell you the energy on our side is incredibly high,” Scalise, R-Jefferson, said Thursday. “People understand, no matter where you go, that this is a contrast election. And the contrast between our party and the Democrats has never been sharper.”

Last week, Scalise was in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and other Midwest states before shifting to the East Coast to campaign in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and New York.

Scalise detailed for the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa, how the Republicans’ signature law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted last year, cut taxes and increased deductions.

He recalled telling voters, many of whom are confused about the new law, about provisions like a limit on taxing some overtime wages or a higher deduction for seniors.

“You know, 70% of the people benefiting from it make less than $100,000 a year,” Scalise recalled saying, adding that Democrats would repeal the bill if they took the majority.

Local coverage focused on Scalise’s prediction that, if incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn’s “opponent is somehow able to beat him, they bring socialism, Marxism to Iowa.”

Johnson and Scalise say they won’t be undone by stubborn inflation, an unpopular war, a sitting president whose numbers are underwater, and voter confusion over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They contend voters see this Nov. 3 midterm congressional election as a contest between communism and common sense — a fight, they say, for “the very soul of America,” which is enough for GOP voters to defy history and return Republican majorities for another two years.

Scalise pointed to a series of elections in which young progressives ousted established Democratic elected officials. The unexpected win last week in Florida of leftist state Rep. Angie Nixon over a venerable congressman to become the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate prompted handicapper Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball to change its view of the race from a possible to nearly assured GOP win.

Republicans have distinct advantages, including having redrawn more seats to favor GOP House candidates, and raising far more money than their rivals.

That said, some Democrats are running strong.

In solid red Texas, for instance, a scandal-plagued Republican faces a school teacher who studied at Presbyterian seminary, raising the possibility of a Democratic Lone Star senator for the first time since the 1980s.

In Iowa, the entire slate of GOP state and congressional candidates are facing farmers who are reliably conservative voters but now are angered at tariffs and high diesel prices, which polls show have moved Democrats out of their usual “also ran” status.

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter campaign analysts shifted their rating of these races from a sure Republican win to a toss-up prediction.

“Republicans have an unmistakable financial advantage that could revitalize their sagging candidates, but it may not be able to make up for the sizable voter enthusiasm gap that Democrats have on their side,” Cook Political Report wrote less than three months from the election.

It’s not just House and Senate races.