BETHPAGE, N.Y. — Speaker Mike Johnson crisscrossed New York and New Jersey last week promoting tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act while mostly warning voters: Vote Republican to save us from the communists.
House Republican leaders are relying on keeping and flipping a handful of swing seats in and around New York state as their path to holding the majority. But historic trends, President Donald Trump’s declining poll numbers and the rising cost of goods and gas prices aren’t helping.
Now, a crop of democratic socialists who dominated in primaries in New York City districts provide a messaging alternative for Republicans looking to portray every Democrat in the state and nearby suburbs as far-left extremists ahead of the midterms.