Speaker Johnson Confronted About NY Special Election Loss, Insists it Was ‘No Way a Bellwether’ for November

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was confronted by reporters Wednesday morning about the GOP’s loss in the New York special election the night before, and insisted the vote was nothing prophetic about the party’s fortunes in the upcoming November elections.

The NY-03 seat was vacant after the House voted to expel serial fabulist George Santos, under federal criminal indictment for fraud and then finally done in after a stunning allegation from a fellow Republican that Santos had stolen money from both him and his mother. Santos’ victory in 2022 had flipped the district red, but Democrats reclaimed the seat Tuesday when its former occupant, Tom Suozzi, handily defeated Republican Mazi Pilip. Suozzi had represented the district for three consecutive terms when he stepped aside in 2022 to mount an unsuccessful campaign for New York governor.

“Does that mean that House Republicans have a challenge in keeping the majority, and what should House Republicans do?” a reporter asked Johnson.

“No, the result last night is not something, in my view, that Democrats should celebrate too much,” replied Johnson, blaming the result on Suozzi’s name ID and the weather:

Think about what happened there. They spent about $15 million to win a seat that President [Joe] Biden won by eight points. They won it by less than eight points. Their candidate ran like a Republican. He sounded like a Republican talking about the border and immigration, because everybody knows that’s the top issue that is on the concern, the hearts and minds of everybody.

That incumbent had been a three-term member of Congress, and he had 100% name ID and a deep family history in the district. Our candidate was relatively unknown, in that comparison, and had a very short runway. She, she ran a remarkable campaign.

You know, there was a weather event that affected turnout. There were a lot of factors there. That is in no way a bellwether of what’s going to happen this fall.

Johnson continued, saying that he was “absolutely convinced” based on his visits to “17 states in the last 12 weeks” that there was a “fervor among the American people, and it is bipartisan, people know that this country is on the wrong track,” and citing opinion polls showing Biden’s low approval ratings, which he thought would “have a big effect in the fall as well.”

“So New York Three was what it was, but that has nothing to do on the efforts going forward,” he concluded.

Watch above via CNN.