Speaker Johnson To Midterm Convention: Republicans are Fighting to Preserve the Republic; Democrats Want to Tear it All Down

September 10, 2026

DALLAS, TX - Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks on the closing night of the 2026 Midterm Convention, highlighting Republicans' record of achievement during the 119th Congress and the contrast between Republicans' commonsense policies versus the Democrats' crazy agenda. 

"This election presents a glaring contrast for America, and it truly is a contrast between common sense and crazy," said Speaker Johnson. "Republicans stand for common sense and our nation's founding principles. Democrats have radical, far-left candidates running from coast to coast this year who have vowed to abolish police, prisons, and private property, abolish the border and grant mass amnesty, defund our entire national defense, and shred our Constitution. We cannot, and we will not, allow them to take the majority in Congress."

Watch Speaker Johnson's full remarks here.

Below are Speaker Johnson's remarks as delivered:

Good evening, patriots, and welcome to Dallas, Texas. Thank you all for being here at this pivotal moment; it truly is a pivotal moment in the history of our great nation. After 250 years, what we do in the next 53 days will determine the fate of our republic and the future for our children and our grandchildren. This is serious, serious business. My friends, we are here because we are facing the most important midterm election that has ever been. 

This unprecedented convention, and really all of our endless campaign efforts that we're engaging in all around the country right now, they're all part of an effort that you are involved in right now. And that effort is to ensure that every American fully understands the importance of this moment that we are in because of what is happening right now around our country. We're not just running to decide the majority in Congress for the next two years. We're not just living in a time anymore where the two parties are going to be debating over marginal tax rates or shades of regulation. This midterm, for all the reasons that we know, is very, very different. In this election, incredibly on America's 250th anniversary, it now falls to us to fight to preserve the country that we all love. It's now being attacked from within. That's the reason.

Now you've heard many times here in Dallas that this election presents a glaring contrast for America, and it truly is a contrast between common sense and crazy. Republicans stand for common sense, of course. We stand for our nation's founding principles. The Democrat Party, on the other hand, has been taken over by crazy, far-left radicals. It's not just Hasan Piker and Bernie Sanders and AOC and Abdul El-Sayed and Zohran Mamdani. I hate to tell you, there are many, many more. And this is no longer the Democrat Party that we once knew. This is a new Democrat Party. And they're against everything that they used to stand for. Right now, they have opened the doors for Democratic Socialists of America in their big tent, they say. And they're in the process of punishing anyone who disagrees. They're proving this every single day.

I don't know if you saw the action on the House floor last week, but just last week, nearly every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted against condemning socialism and Marxism. They voted against it. And that's the dangerous part. And I want you to pay attention to this, I hope everybody watching at home understands this. We know who the Mamdanis and the El-Sayeds are, but it's the Democrats in the swing seats who say one thing and then join forces and vote with the socialists that they're afraid of. That is the dangerous part. They're the ones who have let the barbarians inside the gate, and next year the communists will be in Congress. That's what's so frightening. They've actually published their plans for the country, and you've been hearing a lot about it this week. Democrats have radical, far-left candidates from coast to coast this year, and they have vowed to abolish police, prisons, and private property, abolish the border and grant mass amnesty, defund our entire national defense and shred our constitution. We cannot, and will not, allow them to take the majority in the Congress. We're not going to do it.

I want to say this: serious times call for serious decisions. And everybody watching at home needs to think about that for your own family. There's really one really important question that you should ask in this midterm election. Which party's candidates and policies are better for me and my family, for my aging parents, for my children's future? The contrast has never been more clear.

As you saw in that video a few moments ago, it's extreme versus mainstream now. And over the past two years, I'm proud to tell you that we have fulfilled our promises. Republicans and President Trump have delivered for America's hardworking families. We delivered the largest middle and working class tax cut ever in history. No one talks about this, but we also delivered the largest spending cut in U.S. history by going after fraud, waste and abuse. In America right now, because elections have consequences, you are enjoying the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years. It's also the lowest level of illegal border crossings in half a century and zero illegals for 15 months into the country. We got Trump Accounts for every American child. We have the first ever nationwide school choice program. We have the biggest decrease in prescription drug prices in over 60 years. And we did other things like protecting girls and women's sports.

The media won't tell you this, but this has been one of the most productive congresses in the history of the institution since 1789.  In the House, we passed over 900 pieces of legislation, and that includes the SAVE America Act four times. It's been the most productive Congress in 80 years and we're not done yet. Right now, our Republican majority and President Trump are working around the clock. The President never sleeps and we don't either.

Border crossings are down and wages are up. More than one million private sector jobs have been created. 97% of filers got a tax cut this year, averaging $3,400 each. That's more money in your pockets and less to Uncle Sam. Millions have claimed no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, the enhanced senior deduction. Nearly 40 million families claim the enhanced child tax credit and more than 127 million taxpayers benefited from the permanently doubled standard deduction. That's $31,500 now for every family.

Now here's the important thing. Listen to me carefully. Every Democrat in Congress voted against everything I just listed. We have a split screen, Republicans delivering and Democrats radicalizing, and that is the contrast for America. That's what we're facing.

It's a contrast between Republicans who deliver common sense, that's what we're about, and Democrats who do the opposite. Their policies will make America less safe and less prosperous and less free. It's a contrast between Republicans who will keep our border secure and Democrats who will throw it back open. A contrast between Republicans who will keep rebuilding our economy and Democrats who would explode our debt with mass amnesty and socialized medicine and all sorts of other things. Between Republicans who will keep America strong and safe and Democrats who will defund our military. Between Republicans who will keep our streets safe and Democrats who would defund police and abolish prisons. Between Republicans who will keep working families tax cuts and Democrats who will reverse all of that. While Republicans inherited from the Biden administration record high inflation and prices, we've been working every single day around the clock to bring policies to bring down those costs.

But elections have consequences. The media won't tell you this either. You probably know, everybody here knows, at the end of the first Trump administration, the inflation rate was 1.4%. But Joe Biden came in and he reversed the policies and he brought us to a 40-year high of 9.1% inflation. That hurt every hardworking person in this country. So, the very moment that Republicans were put back in charge, we started working around the clock to help you and your family, to make life more affordable and to do everything within our power to bring down the cost of living for everyone in this country.

We've succeeded in so many ways, but it takes more than just 20 months to fix the total disaster that we were handed and to turn the ship of state around. We know the job isn't finished yet, but we are all in this together. The alternative is to turn the reins over right now to the radical Marxists who are planning to dramatically grow the government, raise your taxes, drive costs through the roof, and rob you of your freedom. Let me say this very clearly. Not on our watch; not on our watch.

I want to tell you two quick things and I'll be done. Look, if we were all in Washington tonight, I'd love to take you all on a little tour of the Capitol building and then the People's House. And if we were there right now, I would show you our incredible rotunda with its great dome that is the, the most recognized symbol of freedom around the world. And I would take you onto the House floor where the first thing that you would see if you walked in at the member's eye level is "In God We Trust" right above the speaker's head. And then I would show you, if we were on this tour, I would open a little booklet -  it's called The Visitor's Guide to the People's House. And it says in this booklet that's been published for decades, it explains all the symbolism in the House chamber.

And it says there about the national motto above the Speaker's rostrum. It says in 1962, Congress voted to put that there. It says in the book, "As a rebuke to the Soviet's philosophy during the Cold War." What was the Soviet's philosophy? In 1962, Congress recognized it's exactly what we're fighting today. Marxism, communism, socialism. It is a road to human suffering and death. And the members of Congress in the '60s wanted to put that right there so that every person, whoever ran for the People's House to serve in that body would have to look at that all day long and recognize that is what distinguishes us from the communists. 

Communism begins with the premise that there is no God. Don't ever forget that. It's anti-American. Look, on this tour, I'd like to end it by giving you a little word of inspiration. And to do that, I would walk you through Statuary Hall. It's one of my favorite places in the Capitol. And many of you have been there, you know that in that beautiful room that was once the House Chamber, there are brass plates on the floor that belong to people who served in Congress and then got elected President. Well, I would take you tonight to the brass plate of John Quincy Adams. I like to take everybody to that spot in Stat Hall. Why is that? He's the only person in the history of the United States who ran for the House after serving as President. Maybe our current president would do that. No - He's going be too busy, okay.

But John Quincy Adams did that and I want to leave you this word of inspiration. He ran for the House. No one's ever done it before or since. He ran for the House because he was a man on a mission. They called him the hell hound of slavery because he had a deep burning conviction in his heart with his Christian faith that that was wrong, that it violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the scripture that we all believe in. And John Quincy Adams brought the resolution over and over and over to end slavery in America. But sadly, the country wasn't ready for it yet. It was the mid 1800s. And on about the 14th failed attempt, as the story goes, he was bringing the resolution and a younger member of Congress walked up to him and they said, "Mr.  President, respectfully, why are you bringing it? The resolution is going to fail." And he said, "Young man, listen to me. Duty is ours. Results are God's."

Here's the part I want to leave you with. I love that and it's a great worldview and a great vision for us to maintain. But if we were on the House floor right now, I'd take you from the brass plate of John Quincy Adams 25 feet over, a little bit further over in Stat Hall, and I would show you the brass plate of someone else. See, John Quincy Adams had a very inspiring story and he was not successful in eradicating slavery, if you know, from history. Fast forward to February 21st of 1848, he's standing there giving an impassioned speech. We had just won the Mexican-American War. We were expanding the country out west and there were a lot of people that wanted to push slavery into the Western territory. John Quincy Adams was having none of it. And so he was given one of his greatest speeches of all time and he was so impassioned that he had a stroke and he fell to the floor.

Younger members of Congress picked up Old Man Eloquent, his other nickname, and they carried him across the floor. If we were there in Stat Hall right now, in Statuary Hall, I'd show you where they took him. It was the speaker's room; it's now the women's reading room. They laid him on a couch there. He fell into a coma and he died two days later. Now, here's the inspirational part that I'll leave you with, and this will mean a lot to you as it does to me. When he died, there were a handful of members of the House who stood up immediately to say, "I want to be involved in the memorial service, the state funeral for the great John Quincy Adams." One of the first people to stand forward and volunteer for that great service was a freshman member of Congress from Illinois, named Abraham Lincoln. Now, look, here's the end of the story.

The moral is obvious and, and I'll close with this. Duty is ours, results are God's. We know how history ended. The sixth President was not successful in eradicating slavery in this great country of ours, but the 16th president got the job done. Our first Republican president did that and because it's the seeds that were planted, that if you could see the two plates on the floor, you'd see the vantage point that Abraham Lincoln had to watch Old Man Eloquent over and over and over speak with clarity, conviction, and consistency as we should do today.

 I know that we're going to be faithful to our duty. I know that God is not done with America yet. I know that this is the last best hope of man on earth, and because of your efforts and because the American people can be trusted to make the right decision, we are going to win this election on November 3rd. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.