WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Almost two months into , the chairman of the is already predicting his party will pick up seats in the midterm elections some 20 months away.
Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., is in charge of increasing the GOP's slim majority in the House, or at least defending it. After this past week with , Hudson said the cuts pushed by the are resonating with voters.
With disruptions at GOP town halls during the recent break, Hudson and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have told Republican lawmakers to for now and meet with constituents elsewhere. Nevertheless, Hudson said Republicans are confident their budget-cutting is 鈥渙n the side of the angels.鈥�
Here's the political outlook from the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee as he confronts Democrats trying to win back the House in 2026. This Q&A has been edited for brevity and length.
What was your advice about holding town halls?
HUDSON: 鈥淚 just said that, it鈥檚 very important that all of us are communicating with our constituents, are very visible in our districts, very accessible. And it鈥檚 a shame that Democrat organizations are paying people to disrupt in-person town halls. And so this normal dialogue that we want to have with our constituents isn't possible at in-person town halls. So we need to use technology to reach our constituents.鈥�
Do you think the DOGE cuts will be a tough sell?
HUDSON: 鈥淚 think it's the greatest thing that鈥檚 happened since I鈥檝e been in Congress.鈥�
鈥淢y biggest frustration as a member of Congress is these massive bureaucracies that hide all their spending and when I ask questions or send letters, ignore it. And now it鈥檚 all mapped. You can see it all. There's transparency for the American people. Now we can go in and decide, do we like the taxpayers' dollars being spent on this program? Yes. Let鈥檚 keep it. This one? No, let鈥檚 cut it. I mean, we actually can do our job."
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting. It鈥檚 exhilarating.鈥�
Do you feel any blowback back home from people losing their jobs, cuts to veterans?
HUDSON: 鈥�(Musk) did say that the the the firings at the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) were a mistake done by that agency, by the VA.鈥�
鈥淗e said mistakes were made by bureaucrats.鈥�
What do you make of the 80,000 cuts at the VA?
HUDSON: 鈥淚鈥檓 disturbed when I hear . I think we ought to give . But, you know, I do acknowledge that there may need to be firings in all these agencies."
鈥淲hen it comes to the VA, for example, what I鈥檓 concerned about is giving world class health care to our veterans in a timely manner. And so any waste, fraud and abuse that makes that difficult or messes that up, I'm interested in cutting.鈥�
What's your message to the fired federal workers, what do you say to them?
HUDSON: 鈥淗ang tight.鈥�
What鈥檚 that mean?
HUDSON: 鈥淚 mean there may be some mistakes that are being corrected.鈥�
Do you think that will be an OK message for other GOP lawmakers to use?
HUDSON: 鈥淭he American people are sick of the swamp. They鈥檙e sick of waste, fraud and abuse. For the first time. ever, we finally have the tools to affect it. So I think the voters are going to reward us.鈥�
Democrats envision a repeat of Trump's first term, when they won back the House?
HUDSON: 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e digging their own grave politically.鈥�
"We're on the side of the angels. We're doing what the American people asked us to do, what 77 million people voted for Donald Trump to get."
鈥淲e're going to pick up seats."
Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press
