Speaker Mike Johnson tells GOP voters to remain vigilant: 'Duty is ours, results are God's'

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 10, 2026

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., invoked the legacy of former President John Quincy Adams at the Republican National Committee’s Midterm Convention, urging Republicans to remember that “duty is ours, results are God’s” as they face the midterm elections.

Johnson was one of several speakers at the two-day Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, to warn about the threats he said Democrats would pose if they win the upcoming midterm elections. During his remarks Thursday, Johnson characterized his opponents as “radical Marxists who are planning to dramatically grow government, raise your taxes, drive costs through the roof and rob you of your freedom.” He also referred to several Democratic congressional candidates as “communists.”

Johnson told the crowd that he wished he could take themon a tour of the U.S. Capitol, specifically highlighting his admiration for “our incredible rotunda, with its great dome that is the most recognized symbol of freedom around the world” as well as “the House floor.”

“The first thing that you would see if you walked in at the members’ eye level is ‘In God We Trust’ right above the Speaker’s head.”

Johnson noted that a booklet given to people during a tour of the U.S. Capitol, called “The Visitor’s Guide to the People’s House,” explains how the phrase was put there by Congress in 1962 “as a rebuke to the Soviets’ philosophy during the Cold War.”

He identified the Soviets’ philosophy as “exactly what we’re fighting today: Marxism, communism, socialism.”

“It is a road to human suffering and death, and the members of Congress in the '60s wanted to put that right there so that every person who ever ran for the people’s House, to serve in that body, would have to look at that all day long and recognize ‘that is what distinguishes us from the Communists,’” he said. “Communism begins with the premise that there is no God. Don’t ever forget that. It’s anti-American.” 

Johnson then turned to the story of former President John Quincy Adams, whose sole term as president ended nearly 200 years ago. Adams was the only former president to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after leaving the White House. Johnson characterized the former president as “a man on a mission” to abolish slavery.

“He had a deep burning conviction in his heart, with his Christian faith, that that was wrong, that it violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the scripture that we all believe in,” Johnson explained. “John Quincy Adams brought the resolution over and over and over to end slavery in America.”

Johnson acknowledged that all of Adams’ attempts were unsuccessful, noting that a younger member of Congress asked him why he kept bringing the resolution even though he knew it would fail. Adams is widely credited with responding: “Duty is ours, results are God’s.”

The speaker praised that philosophy as “a great worldview and a great vision for us to maintain.”

Johnson concluded his remarks by noting that Adams collapsed on the House floor in 1848 while opposing a resolution to honor U.S. military officers from the Mexican-American War — a conflict Adams saw as an attempt to expand slave territory — and died two days later.

He identified one of the lawmakers who volunteered to take part in Adams' memorial service as then-Rep. Abraham Lincoln, who would later become the 16th U.S. president. Lincoln served as president during the U.S. Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves.

“Duty is ours, results are God’s,” Johnson reiterated. “We know how history ended. The sixth president was not successful in eradicating slavery in this great country of ours, but the 16th president got the job done.” 

Johnson concluded by expressing confidence that “God is not done with America yet,” as he predicted that “we are going to win this election on Nov. 3.”

Earlier in his speech, he had referred to the upcoming midterms as “the most important midterm election that has ever been,” framing the choice for voters as one between what he called the “common sense” of Republicans and the “crazy” embraced by Democrats.