Midterm home stretch: Johnson doubts polls as Trump touts Audi plant in Georgia
The Republican House speaker says his leadership is on the ballot and the polls are wrong. Trump announced a $4.2 billion Audi plant and claimed a turnaround.
Archive image · Photo: Office of Speaker Mike Johnson / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
A little over a week before the congressional elections, Republicans are pushing back against poor poll numbers. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on "Fox News Sunday" that his leadership is on the ballot, citing $860 million he has raised for House Republicans in three years. He dismissed the polls as wrong, citing a CNN report that 14 of 16 October polls undersampled Republicans by an average of four points. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said: "If people show up and vote on our side, we will win."
President Donald Trump said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that he was "working like hell" against the headwinds and told reporters Republicans had "turned the whole thing around." He also announced Audi's first U.S. plant near Macon, Georgia, according to Fox News: a $4.2 billion investment to build more than 200,000 vehicles a year and create about 4,500 direct jobs. At a rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump again promised a $5,000 "Trump dividend" to every adult citizen if Republicans win both chambers, putting the cost at about $1 trillion. The payment would require congressional approval.
A Reuters analysis outlines what is at stake: a Democratic-controlled Congress could limit the Iran war, fund Ukraine and restrict aid to Israel, which totaled $3.8 billion in the latest fiscal year. A 50-50 Senate with Vice President JD Vance casting tie-breaking votes is also possible. Democrats have already blocked Trump's $1.5 trillion military budget request in the Senate.