LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Republicans would buck historical trends and retain control of the House and Senate in next year's elections.
In addition, he accused Democrats of having no leaders, no platform and of giving in to an anti-Semitic strain of thought in their party.
WATCH | Inside the Leadership Summit on Saturday
Johnson's comments came as he addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition's Leadership Summit at the Venetian hotel-casino. This year marks the coalition's 40th anniversary.
Johnson said demographics shifted in 2024, with President Trump winning more Jewish, Hispanic, Black, union, young and women voters than Republicans had before.
"And those demographics will stick with us in the next election, because we are demonstrating for them they made the right choice," Johnson said.
He also said Democrats were struggling with their message. "Democrats are flailing," he said. "They have no identified leader, they have no platform, no position they can stand for... Their entire agenda can be summed up in one phrase, 'we hate Donald Trump.' Good luck with that, selling that to voters. You know, that's not exactly a platform."
Republicans have also begun mid-decade redistricting in states such as Texas and Ohio to give their party a chance to win additional seats. In response, deep blue California has put a measure on the ballot to do the same.
Shutdown politics
Johnson, who recalled the Republican Jewish Coalition was his first public speaking engagement after being elected speaker in October 2023, said he spoke via video because he couldn't "abandon [his] post" during the government shutdown.
The House, however, hasn't held a formal session since Sept. 19, when it passed a budget resolution that has since stalled in the Senate, sparking the shutdown.
Johnson said there may be light at the end of the tunnel, however.
"We do have a sense that something may change next week. Of course, there's a big election on Tuesday, and sort of the conventional wisdom on the Hill right now is that they're waiting for that to pass because they can't take the wrath of their radical, and frankly, anti-Semitic, socialist, Marxist base," Johnson said. "If they fold too soon, they're afraid it might affect voter turnout. But that really is the sum total of their calculus right now, them trying to cover their own back sides."
But Democrats said the story is much different. They accuse Republicans of failing to negotiate for months to extend tax credits that help people purchase insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare.
Shebie Swartz, executive director of Battle Born Progress, said in a statement that Republicans would bear the brunt of the blame for the shutdown come Election Day 2026.
"While Speaker Johnson slings vitriol via Zoom, the Trump shutdown is literally keeping food off families’ tables and holding affordable health care coverage hostage to fund billionaire tax breaks," Swartz said in a statement. "Johnson is sorely mistaken — or maybe just deranged enough — to think starving families and spiking their health care costs is a winning 2026 strategy.
"Our delegation — Reps. [Steven] Horsford, [Dina] Titus, [Susie] Lee, and Senators [Jacky] Rosen and [Catherine] Cortez Masto—are in Washington working to protect affordable health care and reopen the government while Johnson, [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune, and Donald Trump block good-faith negotiations," she added. "Meanwhile, the President himself is building a $300 million White House ballroom, purchasing luxury jets during the shutdown, remodeling the Lincoln bedroom-bathroom in solid marble, and pushing billions in financial support to Argentina and hosting a ‘Great Gatsby’ era Halloween party — flaunting excess in the face of Americans who will not be able to feed their families."
Cruelty is the point
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin also spoke to the coalition's meeting, and with reporters afterward.
He specifically called out Rosen for voting 13 times against the House budget resolution that would reopen the government, and encouraged her to join Cortez Masto, who has repeatedly voted for that resolution, one of only two Democrats to do so, along with Maine independent Angus King.
Zeldin mentioned a comment from House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., who said recently that "Of course there will be families that are going to suffer... but it is one of the few leverage times we have."
"The idea that you are going to use the suffering of American families as leverage, [that] in order to have more power you have to cause that pain, is something that there shouldn't be any free passes on," Zeldin said.
"I would encourage Jacky Rosen to get smart, to truly have compassion, to show understanding, and change [her] position and instead say that she rejects leveraging the suffering of her constituents in pursuit of power," he added. "This is a crossroads moment."
But Rosen replied that it is Republicans who are inflicting the suffering, by refusing to negotiate over health care.
“Today is the beginning of open enrollment, when Nevadans are going to start signing up for health insurance for next year, and they will see their costs have gone up because the Republicans who have total control in Washington refuse to act," Rosen said in a statement. "While President Trump and his administration focus on hosting exclusive dinners at Mar-a-Lago instead of coming to the negotiating table to fix this crisis, I'm fighting for a deal that will reopen the government and prevent millions of families from losing their health care.”
The shutdown is already the second-longest in U.S. history, and if it continues through Wednesday, will become the longest.
Controversy over Carlson
Several times during speeches at Saturday's event, fellow Republicans came under criticism, specifically conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
Carlson recently interviewed Nick Fuentes, who has made anti-Semitic remarks in the past and has been denounced by the Anti-Defamation League.
Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., spoke as a cadre of young people stood before the stage with coalition-printed signs reading "Tucker is not MAGA."
"Today, Tucker Carlson is the most dangerous anti-Semite in the country," he said.
And when he mentioned fellow Republican lawmakers Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the names were greeted with boos. Both have recently had falling outs with the GOP over issues including releasing Justice Department files related to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
Fine said he was canceling an appearance at the Heritage Foundation, whose president, Kevin Roberts, defended Carlson's decision to interview Fuentes.
"We will not let our party fall to this darkness, Fine declared. "We will not let our country fall to this evil."
Several other speakers, including popular commentator Mark Levin, also denounced Carlson.
In a briefing with reporters, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said both parties have an obligation to confront anti-Semitic rhetoric, but claimed the problem was worse in the Democratic Party.
"Republicans have a cold, Democrats have a fever," he said. "The Democrats aren't fighting the fever and the fever is growing."
He cited the example of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, whom many speakers at the coalition meeting denounced as anti-Semitic and called a communist in part because of his suggestions for city-run grocery stores and free public transit.
Fleischer said Democrats in close races would be tarred with Mamdani's name and positions next year. And the coalition's CEO, Matt Brooks, said it would be hard for the party to distance itself from Mamdani after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., endorsed Mamdani's candidacy.
Asked about Vice President J.D. Vance's seemingly mild response to another scandal involving anti-Semitic texts sent by members of the Young Republicans groups, Fleischer said the race for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination would begin in earnest after the November 2026 elections, and that this was one of the issues that would define Vance's career in the party.