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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) claimed this past weekend that Republicans will end up winning the 2026 midterms due in large part to God’s intervention.
Johnson appeared on the far right program “This Week on Capitol Hill,” which is hosted by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. During the July 25 episode, Johnson claimed that Americans “trust House Republicans…to run this government,” and cited that belief as why Republicans will maintain control of Congress beyond November.
“We’re gonna win the midterms,” Johnson said. “I’m very bullish about the outcome. We talk about it all the time, and with each passing day, I’m more confident.”
Perkins responded by saying that Republicans “exceed the expectations of the pundits” who “still don’t understand the power of prayer.”
“That’s right!” Johnson exclaimed.
The House Speaker then recounted a story where he recently spoke to reporters, telling them “this is a God thing” regarding how well Republicans will do in the elections this year.
“We have intercessory prayers” — groups of people who organize to pray in person for a particular cause — “who are on the grounds at the Capitol praying each of these things through,” Johnson said of Republican-sponsored legislation.
Johnson’s comments are a nod to his broader Christian nationalist vision of how the U.S. government should be run.
Just months after Johnson became Speaker, a Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC) report published in January 2024 highlighted his Christian nationalist views, noting that the lawmaker has “spent decades working to deny, reject, and undermine the constitutional separation of church and state, including trafficking in fake histories about our nation’s founding.”
The CFC, which is composed of around 35 lawmakers whose aim is to protect the separation between church and state, cited many of Johnson’s statements and actions over the years, including:
- His view that the First Amendment’s “Establishment Clause,” does “nothing more than prevent the state from establishing an official religion” rather than the prevailing consensus that it exists to restrict the government from implementing religious-based laws;
- His support for using public education and resources to promote evangelical Christianity;
- His promotion of anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ policies, oftentimes based solely on his religious views;
- His writing the forward to a right-wing book that is full of baseless conspiracy theories;
- And his past work with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a growing movement in Republican circles that promotes extremist calls for Christians to “conquer” and “take dominion” over “key mountains of society” — e.g., business realms, the media, and governments.
Johnson might be overly optimistic about his party’s chances in the midterms.
According to an Economist/YouGov poll published this week, only 32 percent of Americans view Republicans in Congress favorably, while 58 percent view them unfavorably. Asked if the Republican Party is too extreme, 51 percent of respondents answered yes, while only 34 percent said the party was not.
The poll also asked respondents who they would vote for if the midterm elections were held today. Forty percent said they preferred the Democrat in their home district to win, while 34 percent said they wanted the Republican choice — a 6-point lead for Democrats just a few months out from Election Day 2026.
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