Anti-socialism push can flip battlegrounds, Republican leader bets as party fights to hold House

EXCLUSIVE : AUBURN, Maine — House Speaker Mike Johnson decisively insisted Republicans will buck long-standing, cyclical election trends and hold their congressional majority in November's midterms.

"I'm absolutely convinced we're going to defy the historic trend and keep and grow the House majority for Republicans," the five-term GOP lawmaker from Louisiana said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this week as he stopped in a crucial House district the GOP aims to flip.

The party in power in Washington, D.C., traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterms and loses congressional seats.

This year, that could be the downfall of the GOP, which has slim majorities in both the House and Senate.

Meanwhile, Republicans are also facing a rough political climate thanks to persistent inflation, what polls indicate is an unpopular war in Iran and President Donald Trump's underwater approval ratings.

But Johnson says the high-profile primary battle between the far-left and the Democratic establishment, for a party already suffering from all-time low favorable ratings, is political ammunition for Republicans.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE MIDTERM RACES "The Democrats are in almost an open civil war right now," Johnson emphasized to Fox News Digital.

"You see communists actually running for Congress, Marxists are inside the gate." Johnson, who is crisscrossing the country on a barnstorming tour, argued that the midterms will be a choice election rather than a referendum on Trump's second term and c ongressional Republicans .

"America is not down for that," Johnson said in reference to left-wing Democrats.

"I'm so grateful we have common sense on the ballot.

This really is a contrast election between commonsense candidates... and crazy, and that's what the other side represents." FIRST ON FOX: JOHNSON TURNS DEMOCRATS' CIVIL WAR INTO MIDTERM WEAPON Last week, as first reported by Fox News Digital, Johnson launched a new website highlighting the contrast between Democrats and Republicans.

The name for the initiative is " Contrast for America ," a play on the Newt Gingrich-led "Contract with America" GOP policy platform used during the 1994 midterm election, when Republicans recaptured the House thanks to a massive red wave.

Johnson was interviewed as he teamed up in Maine's 2nd Congressional District with former two-term GOP Gov.

Paul LePage, the party's congressional nominee for the open seat Democrats currently hold.