House Speaker Mike Johnson told a room full of top Republican donors Monday that he expects his party to net seven to eight additional House seats through mid-decade redistricting, a bullish prediction that signals how aggressively the GOP plans to redraw the map heading into the midterms.
Johnson made the remarks on a panel at his big-donor retreat in Washington alongside National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson and Congressional Leadership Fund president Chris Winkelman, according to a source in the room, per Punchbowl News.
Johnson's rosy prediction reflects growing Republican confidence in a mid-decade redistricting push that Democrats have sought to fight. Democrats' Virginia map was torched by the Virginia Supreme Court, which struck down a voter-approved amendment that would have handed Democrats a commanding advantage in the state's congressional delegation.
A net gain of seven to eight seats would dramatically strengthen the GOP's House majority.
Johnson's bullish projection comes as polling analysts and even some Republicans privately predict a blue wave in November.
Democrats currently hold a six-point lead in the generic congressional ballot, and a record 43 House Republicans have already announced they won't seek reelection — a number political scientists say signals widespread fear of getting swept out in a wave election.
Trump's approval ratings have cratered to historic lows, with two-thirds of Americans telling CBS News his policies are making the economy worse, with one Washington correspondent calling them "rancid numbers."
