U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson warned Iowa Christian conservatives that Republicans are facing “a spiritual battle” in November amid what he said is a rise in socialist sentiment.
The Louisiana Republican was the keynote speaker at The Family Leadership Summit Friday, July 17 — an event hosted by Christian conservative group The Family Leader.
“You see, Marxism, communism and socialism begin with the premise that there is no God,” Johnson told several hundred people who were gathered at the Community Choice Convention Center in downtown Des Moines.
Thirty years ago, Johnson said, Republicans and Democrats would have been arguing over “marginal tax rates and shades of regulation.” But the stakes have grown much higher, he argued.
“That’s not the contest right now,” he said. “Right now, we’re in a battle, an all-out battle, to determine if we are going to remain one nation under God — if we’re going to remain and keep a constitutional republic, or trade it in, dismantle the foundations, and go down this dark, dangerous, deadly road of communism.”
The rhetoric matches a push from Republican President Donald Trump who has also railed against “hardcore, godless communists.” It comes as democratic socialists and other leftwing challengers to establishment candidates have won a series of Democratic primaries in other states in recent weeks.
Johnson said Iowa, which is home to three competitive U.S. House races, is the “tip of the spear on the front lines” in Republican efforts to guard against any further spread of those ideas.
“I’m telling you, Iowa is in the center of this battle,” he said. “You are literally tip of the spear on the front lines. What happens in Iowa has a big influence around the country. And we’re going to do our part here. We’re in critically important races in Iowa here.”
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Johnson, has announced it will spend about $11 million in television advertising in Iowa this fall leading up to Election Day.
Johnson also campaigned with U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Pella while he was in the state.
Miller-Meeks is seeking reelection to her 1st Congressional District seat, which is expected to be one of the most closely contested races in the country. She faces Democrat Christina Bohannan in November.
Iowa’s Republican candidates for governor, Senate speak on importance of Christianity
Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn and U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson also spoke at the event and touted the importance of their Christian worldview.
“Christianity, which has built Western culture, has provided for the greatest alleviation of oppression ever known to mankind, and it’s not even close,” Lahn told the crowd.
He said that there are some groups on the political left “say that they are fighting oppression.”
“But at the same time, they’re trying to dismantle the very system that alleviated the most ever in human history,” he said. “That is wrong. We have a real fight in front of us. And it’s a fight I plan to take onto my shoulders as governor and carry on the work and take it to the next level to make sure we are putting those protections in place.”
Lahn, an entrepreneur, is challenging Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand.
Hinson, who currently represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, said she keeps a Bible in her office to remind her to “lead with humility, with dignity, integrity, with a servant’s heart.”
“There are a group of people who want to erase Christian values from our work in Washington, D.C., even from the work happening at the state Capitol here in Iowa,” she warned. “And I think the growing influence of these democratic socialists in the Democrat Party should alarm all of us. It’s happening very quickly.
Hinson is running against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. She writes about campaigns, elections and the Iowa Caucuses. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mike Johnson says Iowa is on ‘front lines’ defending against communism
Reporting by Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
