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.
“I can be here all day telling you the reasons we’re going to win but ultimately it boils down to one thing: The Democrat Party is being taken over by communists,” Johnson told a room of Long Islanders at the Embassy Diner in Bethpage last week.
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Johnson’s economic pitch, delivered mostly to local businesses, was meant to plug tax cuts from the partisan legislation Republicans passed last year. But warnings of communism prevailed from venue to venue. At the Embassy Diner, Johnson delivered them five feet away from a spread of tomahawk steaks, lobster tails, lamb chops and a mountain of shrimp cocktail, some of which were brought out during Johnson’s speech.
The speaker campaigned alongside Mike LiPetri, a former assemblyman working to defeat Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
The district spans parts of Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. The median household income is about $140,000 with a per capita income of around $70,000, about 1.5 times the amount in the United States, according U.S. census data. And yet, even some Republican supporters are griping about the cost of living.
“They’re way too high,” Anthony Sparaco, 78, a Purple Heart veteran, told NOTUS of gas prices. “You know, we’ve got to get gas down to the $2 range here — $2 and a little bit of change, maybe.”
Some Republican voters, however, are willing to give the president and their party a pass. MaryAnn Capparelli, 82, from North Massapequa, a “big supporter” of LiPetri’s, said she would like to see political officials talk more about tax cuts, but was hesitant to criticize the president’s decision to go to war against Iran even at the cost of escalating prices.
“I’m all for the president doing what he did. I think the long term would be beneficial for us,” she said, adding, “I just think he’s doing his best, and if it takes a little bit longer,” she said before interrupting her own remarks. “I would like to see it end sooner. But I’m for him.”
Trump won the district by 4 percentage points in 2024. That same election, LiPetri lost to Suozzi by just 13,000 votes with little outside help from the party. And even though Trump won’t be at the top of the ticket, LiPetri thinks better name recognition and more fundraising opportunities can close the gap this cycle.
“Now we have a longer runway,” LiPetri told NOTUS. “We’ve raised the money, and more importantly, we show the viability of this race that it can be won so long as we unite.”
Kim Devlin, a campaign spokesperson for Suozzi, told NOTUS in a statement, “MAGA Mike LiPetri and Mike Johnson would simply continue to be rubber stamps in Washington, backing the President’s irresponsible tariffs and reckless war in Iran that are driving up the cost of gas, groceries, and housing.”
New York and New Jersey have become a must-stop for top GOP leaders ahead of November’s midterms.
Trump visited New York twice, campaigning in May for Rep. Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley and returning this month to support Bruce Blakeman, a long shot opposing New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. Vice President JD Vance talked to residents on Long Island in June and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise visited the state last week.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey, who faces a serious threat from a Democratic challenger, received a campaign assist from Johnson in Warren County on Friday. It was a rare campaign appearance from Kean following a four-month absence due to mental health issues.
The day before, Johnson visited Silvio’s, a pizza shop in Westchester County, New York, with former baseball player-turned Texas congressional candidate Mark Teixeira and Rep. Aaron Bean of Florida to campaign with Lawler.
Separately, Johnson was the special guest at a LiPetri fundraising event in Upper Brookville with Frank DellaFera of Fera Pharmaceuticals, a specialty drug company focused on eye health, according to its LinkedIn page. Tickets ranged from $500 to $25,000. Johnson mentioned at his stop at the diner that the fundraiser hosted by a GOP challenger was “record breaking.”
Unlike LiPetri’s run two years ago, the two-time candidate and other Republicans in the tri-state area have become the recipients of extraordinary financial backing from Republicans — especially the financial arms of the party. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with the speaker, has reserved $18.6 million for the New York City media market. LiPetri received an early financial boost as part of the National Republican Campaign Committee’s MAGA Majority program, which ensures early support for candidates in competitive seats. He was added to the program in March — six months earlier than his last run at the seat.
“Two-Faced Tom Suozzi has left Long Islanders behind for too long,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole told NOTUS in a statement. “Instead of fighting for them, he’s put his own interests first by voting against increasing the SALT cap, siding with Democrat extremists like Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani, and lining his pockets trading stocks. Long Islanders are ready for change, and Trump-backed Mike LiPetri will get the job done in November.”
Democrats aren’t holding back either, almost ensuring New York will be home to some of the most expensive races this cycle.
“HMP is all in on defeating Mike Lawler and Tom Kean Jr., and will do whatever it takes to defend seats like NY-03 blue on our way to taking back the House in November,” House Majority PAC spokesperson CJ Warnke said in a statement.
The increase in the state and local tax deduction cap that was included in the 2025 Republican tax bill could become a bright spot for otherwise disaffected voters. Sparaco said legislation that raised the deduction to $40,000 from $10,000 “helped tremendously.”
“I guess with those savings, I’m able to afford a little higher prices in gas and food and everything else,” he said.
But those tax cuts expire in 2029, and it’s not clear Republicans will have the support for an extension.
“There are extensions and deadlines on some of these cuts, and so that’s why you have to elect new people to come in to reinforce the troops and make sure that they continue to fight for the state’s interests,” Johnson told reporters when pressed on whether he’d support extending the tax breaks.
But that would require Republicans to maintain their majority. And for all Johnson’s messaging about communism, he’s mindful of another factor: turnout.
“In 2024 — think of this — 10 races that decided the majority in the Congress was decided by 6,000 votes,” Johnson told the audience. “Every single vote counts — especially in New York.”
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