发言人迈克·约翰逊表示，他相信共和党人将在选举日保持众议院多数席位，并在中期竞选最后阶段抵御民主党势头的激增。
Speaker Mike Johnson says he believes Republicans will hold on to their House majority on Election Day and defy a surge of Democratic momentum in the final stretch of the midterm campaign.
丽莎·马斯卡罗 缅因州班戈 — — 作为永远的乐观主义者，众议院议长迈克·约翰逊表示，他相信共和党人将保住美国众议院多数席位，挑战民主党在中期选举最后阶段的势头激增，而这些选举将决定国会的控制权。
LISA MASCARO BANGOR, Maine — Ever the optimist, Speaker Mike Johnson said he believes Republicans will hold on to their U.S. House majority, defying a surge of Democratic momentum in the final stretch of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
他说，他在全国为共和党候选人拉票时所看到的人群正是他所指的。他形容这些被招募的人和现任议员是干活的马，而不是表演的马。此外，他为众议院共和党人筹集了近5亿美元。
It’s the crowds he says he’s seeing as he crosses the country campaigning for GOP candidates. The caliber of recruits and incumbents he calls workhorses, not show horses. And the nearly half a billion he has raised for House Republicans.
“我们是为了胜利而奔跑，这正是圣经所说的：你奔跑是为了胜利，”他在缅因州的一次竞选停留期间告诉《美联社》。“而我相信我们会赢。”
“We run to win, and that’s biblical: You run to win,” he told The Associated Press during a campaign stop in Maine. “And I believe that we will.”
众议院议长是美国最重要的民选官员之一，继总统之后位列继承顺序第二位。尽管约翰逊最近对福克斯新闻开玩笑说，如果共和党在11月3日失去权力，他可能会返回路易斯安那州的家乡什里夫波特，开办一个草坪护理业务，但他完全相信自己能够打破美国中期选举的惯例——这种惯例常常导致总统所属的政党在国会中失利。
The speaker of the House is one of the most consequential elected officials in the United States, second in line of succession to the president. While Johnson quipped to Fox News recently that he may return to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, to start a lawn care business if Republicans lose power on Nov. 3, he fully expects to buck an American midterm tradition that often sees the president’s party dumped in Congress.
可以说，约翰逊与特朗普总统关系如此密切，以至于他经常收到凌晨1点的电话——就在特朗普在阿拉斯加举行集会的前一天，他们还通了话——所以他在阳光大道上行走。尽管选民对高物价和伊朗战争感到不满，而且他本人面临着领导现代史上众议院席位最微弱多数之一的挑战。
It can be said that Johnson, who has drawn so close to President Donald Trump that he routinely fields 1 a.m. calls — they spoke the night before as Trump rallied in Alaska — walks on the sunny side of the street. That’s despite voter frustration over high prices and the Iran war and his own challenge of leading one of narrowest House majorities in modern times.
在他担任议长的三年里，约翰逊克服了质疑者和否定者的声音，牢牢维持着共和党极其微弱的多数，以推动特朗普的议程。他尤为突出地推动通过了那项包含大规模减税和社会服务削减的法案。大多数日子里，他甚至没有一票的余地。
In his three years as speaker, Johnson has pushed past the doubters and naysayers, holding his thread-thin GOP majority together to deliver Trump’s agenda. He notably led passage of the big tax breaks and social service cuts bill. Most days he does not have a single vote to spare.
“这么多次，大家都认为他不可能成功，根本没有办法让他赢得某一次特定的投票，”来自北卡罗来纳州的共和党众议员马克·哈里斯说，他随同议长一起参加了这次竞选巡回活动。“但他似乎总能在最后时刻赢得胜利。”在采访中，约翰逊没有像过去那样大谈特谈在选举日扩大众议院多数席位，但他表示，随着他计划在11月前走访超过20个州和40个国会选区，他觉得当前的政治氛围让他想起了2024年那次选举——那次选举让共和党夺回了国会和白宫的控制权。
“So many times everybody had written off, there was no way he was going to be able to pull off a particular vote,” said Republican Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina, who joined the speaker on the campaign swing. “Yet he always seems to pull out the win in the end.”In the interview, Johnson did not speak brashly about expanding the House majority on Election Day, as he has in the past. But on track to visit more than 20 states and 40 congressional districts though November, he said the political mood reminds him of the 2024 election that swept Republicans to control of Congress and the White House.
“这不会是一个巨大的多数，”他说。“但我真诚地相信，我们将拥有一个能够运作的多数。”意外成为议长的约翰逊在特朗普的鼓舞下变得更加大胆。约翰逊最初几乎是偶然地担任起议长一职——这是他共和党同僚在一次叛乱派系的共和党人将他的前任、时任加利福尼亚州众议员凯文·麦卡锡（R-加州）赶下台后所做的绝望之选。
“It’s not going to be a giant majority,” he said. “But I genuinely believe that we will have a working majority.”Accidental speaker becomes emboldened by Trump Johnson first fell into the speaker’s job almost by accident a desperate choice by his GOP colleagues after a contingent of renegade Republicans ousted his predecessor, -then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in 2023.
约翰逊此前只是众议院领导层中的低级成员，但在2021年1月6日国会山袭击事件之前，他通过组织支持特朗普关于选举中存在广泛舞弊的虚假说法（特朗普在那次选举中输给了民主党候选人乔·拜登），从而脱颖而出。
Johnson had been a lower-level member of House leadership, but distinguished himself before the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by organizing support for Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
此后，约翰逊逐渐与特朗普的权力核心拉近了距离。他曾陪同特朗普参加纽约的一场UFC比赛，并曾在特朗普签署《一揽子宏伟法案》时赠送给他一枚议长的槌子。这是一个象征性的举动，但批评者认为这相当于在放弃一个与行政部门平等的政府分支的权威。
In the time since, Johnson has secured proximity to Trump’s power. He joined Trump at a UFC fight in New York and once gifted the president a speaker’s gavel as Trump signed the“One Big Beautiful Bill” into law. It was a symbolic act, but one that critics saw as giving away the authority of a coequal branch of government.
在班戈喝咖啡时，约翰逊刚刚为众议院候选人、前州长保罗·莱佩奇助阵完毕，他驳斥了关于在他的领导下国会权力被削弱的批评——而特朗普正在努力积累行政权力。“完全是胡说八道，”约翰逊说。
Over coffee in Bangor, after rallying for House candidate Paul LePage, a former governor, Johnson brushed back criticism that Congress has eroded under his watch as Trump works to amass executive power. “Absolute nonsense,” Johnson said.
“我们没有将宪法第一条所规定的权力让渡给总统，”他指的是宪法中明确列出的那些权力。“我们使用了我们自己的权力，”他说，以此来推动共和党的优先议程，克服民主党的反对。
“We did not yield Article One authority to the president,” referring to the powers spelled out in the Constitution. “We used our own,” he said, to muscle GOP priorities past Democratic opposition.
随着众议院多数党形势动荡，特朗普的议程正面临风险。约翰逊将选举焦点放在了他所描述为“共产党人”的民主党人身上。少数几位得到美国民主社会主义者支持的极左翼自由派人士正在参选。
As House majority teeters, Trump’s agenda is at risk Johnson has focused the election on Democrats he portrays as “communists.”A handful of far-left liberals, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, are on the ballot.
纽约州众议员哈基姆·杰弗里斯是众议院民主党领袖，如果其党赢得执政权，他将有望接任议长一职。他正在为新一届国会于1月召开时（若发生控制权变更）制定的前100天议程做准备。如果共和党保持执政权，他们将采取什么行动尚不明确。
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader who is in line for the speaker’s gavel if his party sweeps to power, is preparing a first-100 days agenda for when the new Congress convenes in January, if there is a change in control. What the Republicans will do if they retain power is less defined.
“计划很多，”约翰逊说，“沿着我们一直在做的事情的同一条路线 — — 减税，减管。”
“Lots of plans,” Johnson said, “along the same course of what we’ve been doing — less taxes, less regulation.”
特朗普“希望为自己的遗产大干一场，”他说。“我们眼前有许多大事可以做。”总统基本上已经清洗了众议院共和党阵营中被视为不忠诚的成员。其中包括失利初选的马西，以及佐治亚州的玛乔丽·泰勒·格林，她在因反对公开杰弗里·爱泼斯坦文件而与特朗普决裂后提前退休。
Trump “wants to go big for his legacy,” he said. “We have big things on the horizon that we can do.”The president has essentially purged the House GOP ranks of those perceived to be disloyal. Among them are Massie, who lost his primary, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia retired early after breaking with Trump over release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
被问及他将如何让共和党保持一致，约翰逊表示，如果他重新担任议长，他正在准备修改众议院规则。“将会有一些改变，这些改变将使机器运转更顺畅，”他说。
Pressed how he would keep Republicans in line, Johnson said he is preparing to change the House rules if he returns as speaker. “There’s going to be some changes that are going to make the machinery work smoother,” he said.
为议长和国家祈祷信仰一直在众议院领袖中较为强盛。两位前议长南希·佩洛西和纽特·金里奇都是天主教徒，约翰·博纳同样是天主教徒，他曾邀请教皇方济各发表国会演讲。
Praying for the speaker, and the country Faith has often been strong among House leaders. Two former speakers, Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich are Catholics, as is John Boehner, who invited Pope Francis to address Congress.
约翰逊曾是一名宪法律师，2016年首次当选时与特朗普同步入选。他预计将在下个月赢得自己的连任。
Johnson, a former constitutional lawyer who was first elected alongside Trump in 2016, is expected to win his own reelection next month.
“我的信仰是我思考方式、行为方式以及我所做之事的重要组成部分，”约翰逊说。他曾作为国家250周年庆典的一部分，在国家广场领导了一场公开祈祷。
“My faith is a huge component of how I think and how I act and what I do,” said Johnson, who led a public prayer on the National Mall as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
他说，最近他一直在喝很多咖啡，减少了Celsius的摄入，而且仍然有1,413条未读短信，比《华尔街日报》几个月前报道的可怕数字略有下降。有一条短信是有人为他祈祷的。
He is drinking lots of coffee these days, he said, cutting back on the Celsius, and still has 1,413 unread text messages, a slight dip from the frightful number reported a few months ago by The Wall Street Journal. One text is from someone praying for him.
约翰逊说，他对收到的祈祷之波感到感激，既为他自己，也为这个国家。
Johnson said he is grateful for the outpouring of prayers he receives, for him and the country.
“我祈求上帝的旨意。我相信上帝的旨意是让我们 — 而不是共产党人 — 来掌管美国，”约翰逊说。
“I pray for God’s will. And I believe God’s will is for us — and not the communists — to be in charge of America,” Johnson said.
“而且新约也说了，你要跑这场赛程以取得胜利，”他说，引用了哥林多前书9:24。“这是一条圣经的劝诫。所以我们会的。”
“And it does say in the New Testament, you run the race to win,” he said, citing 1 Corinthians 9:24. “This is a biblical admonition. So we will.”