He believes the House is an essential platform for holding the Trump administration accountable and conducting oversight, despite his decision to run for governor.

“It's going to kill me to not be there in the majority as we bring all of these folks to account. But our great state, which is a nation state, the the greatest country in the world, as I like to say, it needs a fighter and a protector.”

The narrow Republican majority in the House makes the Democratic seat gains in Virginia strategically crucial.

“If you talk about the margin of the GOP majority in the House post the 2024 election, it was two seats. Two seats, that's how many seats they could lose on a vote before losing the majority. Now all of a sudden we're talking about Democrats gaining one, two, three, four seats.”

He anticipates an inevitable government shutdown due to the speaker's inability to secure bipartisan funding without losing his position.

“at some point it's going to come to a head because Mike Johnson cannot stay speaker and extend keep the government open at current levels or at the levels the Senate Democrats and Republicans want and Keith staying his job. So at some point there's going to be a fight over this going to be a shutdow”

He describes Mike Johnson's leadership as representing an extreme and dangerous faction of the Republican Party.

“he represents a very extreme part of their party. I think it's an extreme part of their party. I think it's a dangerous part of their party.”