Speaker Johnson has ‘big plans’ for House GOP and they’re rooted in seven key principles

EXCLUSIVE — When Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) first ran for chairman of the Republican Study Committee in 2018 as a freshman member, he posed a rhetorical question to the caucus’s members about what their elevator pitch for the Republican Party and conservatism would be.

“Let’s say you were in an elevator downtown, and you were going up to the 25th floor, and you had yourself two to three minutes in an elevator ride with a millennial, and they’re wearing a shirt that says ‘Proud Progressive.’ If you had just a short period of time, how could you engage them in a conversation to convince them that your philosophy is better? And what does it mean to be a Republican? What does it mean to be a conservative, more importantly?” Johnson said he asked the group.

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People struggled to answer the questions, he recalled in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Friday.

So Johnson made the pitch that if they took every Republican writing from the Federalist Papers to the Republican Party platform, it would boil down to seven key points, which he has dubbed the Seven Core Principles of Conservatism: Individual Freedom, Limited Government, The Rule of Law, Peace Through Strength, Fiscal Responsibility, Free Markets, Human Dignity.

“If we go on the floor to make an argument, if we oppose a bill or we support it, all of it needs to be anchored in our core principles,” Johnson said.

The RSC bought into these principles, and the members amended the bylaws to include them.

Now, as speaker of the House, Johnson plans to use these same core principles to not only lead the Republican Conference but also help message to the American people what it is the Republican party stands for, what they care about, and what they want to accomplish.

“I think we’ve got to do a much better job of messaging why we’re doing this, why it is in the interest of all Americans for us to succeed and to provide more liberty and opportunity and security for everybody,” Johnson said. “You don’t achieve those ends by grasping at straws or borrowing ideas from European socialist countries or anything else; you do it by staying anchored to what made our country different, exceptional, and extraordinary.”

He also sees these principles as a point of unification within the House Republican Conference.

With an array of district demographics, from people serving in R+30 districts to members serving in a swing district that President Joe Biden carried in 2020, mixed with internal tensions being at an all-time high, the Republican Conference needs something to bring it together, and Johnson believes these principles can be that something.

“The one thing that will unify all Republicans and, I think, bring in independents and others who are disgusted by what they’re seeing right now, the progressive and the leftist ideology, the one thing that unifies everyone is the seven core principles,” he said. “They might mean different things to different people, but this is the central theme that I think can help bring us together. And if we unify the Republican Party again, and we make a compelling case to attract independents and swing voters, we will be an indomitable force for the country again.”

Johnson said he has “big plans” for helping the conference implement these principles. While he declined to delve into specifics, he said he would unveil the plan and lay out his vision for the conference’s future at a conference meeting on Thursday morning.

This also isn’t just a thing for House Republicans.

Johnson said he plans on using this pitch to help with fundraising, winning elections, and the grassroots.

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The newly elected speaker said he spent much of Friday on the phone with “really big noted donors” to the Republican party, Republican activists, and people who run organizations, and this message resonated with them.

“We needed a rallying cry, and we need it to be anchored again. And this may help us achieve that,” Johnson said.