Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is touting unity within his party as the House GOP’s campaign arm celebrates breaking a record in election year fundraising.

‘This week, House Democrats voted to let illegal aliens vote in American elections, voted against protecting girls sports and fell further into disarray following their role in the greatest political cover-up in history when it comes to President Biden’s fitness for office,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital. ‘At the same time, House Republicans passed commonsense legislation and put up record-setting fundraising numbers to grow our majority.

‘As Republicans head to Milwaukee to nominate President Trump, our party has never been more united, energized and equipped with the resources needed to win up and down the ballot.’

It comes as the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, announced it raised $37 million in the second quarter of 2024, its highest-ever election year total for that time period.

The NRCC also said it had the best June on record, with $14.3 million of that total number coming in one month alone.

It’s served to further push back questions over whether Johnson can match the fundraising prowess of his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Johnson himself brought in $23.5 million in the second quarter of 2024.

His numbers, along with the NRCC’s total and the House GOP leadership-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund’s announced $46.4 million raised, mean House Republicans have added over $100 million to their war chest in this time period.

The haul also comes before the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Wisconsin, where former President Trump will be formally declared the party’s nominee for November.

Republicans’ confidence in keeping and possibly expanding their razor-thin House majority appears to have shot through the roof over the last two weeks as Democrats deal with the fallout of President Biden’s disastrous late June debate performance.

The 81-year-old leader’s poor showing against Trump has raised concerns among members of his own party over whether he can win again in November and serve another four years.

It prompted 17 House Democrats and one Democratic senator to call on Biden to withdraw from the race.

But the quarter ended June 30, and the debate took place June 27, so a fuller picture of its impact on GOP fundraising will likely be seen in the beginning of the second half of the year.

When asked about his advice for Republican candidates as they watch Democrats in turmoil, Johnson told Fox News Digital Thursday, ‘We need to be talking about the answers we have to all the great challenges that have been created by the policies of the Biden administration.

‘Our candidates have (done) very well in going out and presenting those answers in a very credible way. We feel very good about what we’re doing,’ Johnson said.

House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), responded to Johnson’s Friday statement: ‘The DCCC has consistently outraised the NRCC this cycle because we have authentic candidates with real records of results, while extreme Republicans simply sow chaos – pushing to ban abortion nationwide and raise taxes on the middle class. This reality is why polling consistently shows Democrats outrunning their Republican opponents across the battleground.’

President Biden said Thursday he needs to ‘pace’ himself and insisted he should take on a more robust schedule ahead of the 2024 election, despite growing concern from members of his own party about whether he is fit to serve as president.

Biden’s comments about his schedule came during a NATO press conference as he fielded questions from reporters, one of whom asked about a recent New York Times report claiming Biden told Democratic governors in a private meeting at the White House that he would stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so he could get more sleep.

‘That’s not true. What I said was, instead of my every day starting at 7 [a.m.] and going to bed at midnight, it would be smarter for me to pace myself a little more,’ the president said. ‘And I said, for example … instead of starting a fundraiser at 9 o’clock, start it at 8 o’clock. People get to go home by 10 [p.m.]. That’s what I’m talking about.’

Biden also appeared to take a shot at his own staff for adding additional events and appearances to his schedule, which resulted in him ‘catching hell’ from first lady Jill Biden.

‘The next debate I’m not going to be traveling in 15 time zones a week before. Anyway, that’s what it was about. That’s what it was about — and by the way, even with that, I love my staff, but they add things. They add things all the time. I’m catching hell from my wife,’ he added.

Biden urged reporters to look at what he has done since his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump on June 27, saying his ‘schedule has been full bore’ with ‘roughly 20 events, some with thousands of people showing up.’

In line with his vow to ‘pace’ himself, it appears things could slow down for the president over the next few days. The president, according to his schedule, plans to spend the weekend at the beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware – a popular retreat for the president during his tenure in the White House – after a campaign event in Michigan.

On Friday, the president will travel to Wayne County, Michigan, where he will participate in a campaign event at 6 p.m. Aside from the lone campaign event, the president’s Friday schedule appears to be clear. Most of his day will be spent traveling.

However, when he returns to work next week, the president will gear up for additional high-stakes interviews amid the Republican National Convention, which is taking place in Milwaukee from July 15 to 18.

Biden is slated to take part in a taped, one-on-one interview with ‘NBC Nightly News’ anchor Lester Holt on Monday from Austin, Texas. That interview, which will mark the president’s second cable news appearance since his rocky debate last month, will air in its entirety at 9 p.m. ET the same day.

The president will also take part in two additional interviews next week, according to Dylan Byers, a senior correspondent for Puck News.

Byers reported Thursday that Biden would take part in a Tuesday interview with a ‘Black national media outlet’ during the NAACP Conference, and another on Wednesday with a ‘Latino national media outlet.’

Those interviews will come as Biden continues his attempt to convince members of his own party, as well as voters from different corners of America who have concerns about his age and mental acuity, that he is up to the task of four more years in the White House.

A large majority of Americans want Biden to drop out of the race, including a majority of his own supporters, according to a Thursday poll from ABC News and the Washington Post that was released ahead of his press conference.

A full 67% of respondents said Biden should drop out of the race, and 85% say he is too old to serve out a second term. Meanwhile, 60% of respondents also said former President Trump is too old for a second term, up from 44% in the spring of 2023.

Among Democrats and voters who said they lean Democratic, 62% said Biden needs to drop out of the race. Even among self-professed Biden supporters, 54% said he needs to drop out.

Despite that, the poll found that Biden and Trump are virtually tied, despite voters’ lack of confidence in Biden, with 46% saying they would vote for the current president and 47% saying they support Trump.

A total of 18 elected Democrats have called on Biden to step aside in the White House race.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

A former Democrat lawmaker in South Carolina, who has donated thousands of dollars to President Biden’s re-election campaign, warned about Biden’s age in 2019 while supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign.

‘Joe Biden has been running for president since before I was born,’ Bakari Sellers told Politico in 2019 while serving as a surrogate for the Harris campaign.

‘Joe Biden is nearly 80 years old and he’s running to be president of the United States,’ Sellers said. ‘My dad was president of an HBCU and will be 75 this year and his doctors told him he couldn’t do it anymore.’

Sellers, a CNN political analyst who formerly served in South Carolina’s House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, said his dad, who served for 7 years as the president of Voorhees College, a South Carolina historically black college, ‘didn’t have the energy and strength to lead that campus anymore.’ He went on to say it ‘doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great man and a great leader and a great visionary.’

‘It is a justifiable conversation,’ he continued.

Sellers also took aim at presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over age concerns during the Democratic presidential primary in 2019.

‘The three front-runners are all older than Ronald Reagan was when he took over,’ Sellers said. ‘Democrats are afraid of criticism, which is silly to me. But we are going to have a contentious primary on vigor and issues about fitness to be president.’

Sellers, who donated $10,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and $6,600 to Biden’s re-election campaign last year, making him a maxed-out donor, has repeatedly defended Biden against criticisms about his age in recent weeks, including this week when he said it was ‘patently absurd’ to be having a discussion about a Parkinsons specialist visiting the White House.

On Thursday night, Sellers responded to Biden’s hour-long press conference by posting on X that Biden was ‘doing well’ and reposted a post from NBC analyst Vin Gupta, a doctor, defending Biden’s press conference.

‘[Biden] demonstrated tonight that he continues to function at a high-level for his age,’ Gupta said. ‘Yes, he had gaffes, which he’s been prone to throughout his career. Yet the substance was there after a series of tough questions, ably demonstrating breadth of experience. Strong performance.’

‘Biden would not only have to not run but he’d have to resign. Neither of which is happening,’ Sellers said last week. ‘Any article about his age that is absent the fact he’s accomplished bipartisan, put black woman on Supreme Court, brought economy back from brink after COVID is an emotional play. Because it’s clear even in his age he can do the job of POTUS.’

One of Sellers’ most notable defenses of Biden occurred less than an hour after the CNN debate between Biden and former President Trump.

‘Biden ain’t going nowhere. It’s June. Let go of your pearls and dry your bed. He lost a debate. Bad. But it’s June. You’re not replacing him,’ Sellers posted on June 27 on X. ‘So leave your random combinations in your chats. You’re not nominating Gretch or Gavin or Wes over Kamala. Stop it. Organize. Vote. We are winning every swing state senate race and gubernatorial race (NC). Relax.’

‘Choice is Trump, Biden or couch. I choose Joe. Night. Night,’ he continued.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sellers for comment but did not receive a response..

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes, called on President Biden to suspend his 2024 re-election campaign, just moments after the president finished his highly anticipated press conference. 

Biden participated in a press conference with reporters at the end of the NATO summit in Washington D.C. on Thursday night. 

Biden, during the press conference, was peppered with questions from reporters who pressed him on whether he would step aside amid mounting pressure from members within his own party following his disastrous debate performance last month.

Biden said he is ‘determined’ to stay in the race and maintained that he is fit to serve as president now and for the next four years. 

But Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., sounded the alarm moments after the press conference concluded. 

‘Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled,’ Himes posted on X. ‘His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.’ 

‘He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump,’ Himes posted on X.  

In a statement, Himes continued that it has been ‘the honor’ of his career to work with Biden on ‘achievements that secured his remarkable legacy in American history.’ 

‘It is because of those traits, and in consideration of that legacy, that I hope President Biden will step away from the presidential campaign,’ Himes said. 

A short time later, Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., also called on Biden to drop out of the race.

‘The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course,’ Peters said in a statement. ‘My conscience requires me to speak up and put loyalty to the country and to democracy ahead of my great affection for, and loyalty to, the President and those around him.’

Peters is the 16th Democrat in the House of Representatives to call on the president to step aside. 

Biden, though, currently has the support of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

President Biden held a roughly hour-long press conference and took multiple questions from reporters Thursday evening as he works to quell concerns over his mental fitness and age ahead of the presidential election in November. 

‘I’m determined on running,’ Biden declared Thursday evening in his solo press conference that lasted roughly 58 minutes. 

Biden’s press conference, dubbed by the media and repeated by the White House as the president’s ‘big boy press conference,’ was a high-stakes public event as voters and traditional Democratic allies increasingly spoke out this week that Biden’s mental acuity and age could or should prevent him from seeking re-election. The press conference follows Biden hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., for the 75th anniversary of NATO. 

‘Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in three and a half years? I created 2,000 jobs just last week. So if I slow down, I can’t get the job done,’ Biden told the media of him remaining in the race. ‘That’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet. None.’

The press conference included a handful of gaffes from the president, including appearing to confuse Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump, holding up a list of reporters he was instructed to call on, and repeatedly saying ‘anyway’ while trailing off from a specific thought. 

‘Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if I thought] she’s not qualified to be president,’ Biden said, not appearing to catch his mistake.

Conservatives panned the press conference as ‘another disaster’ under the president’s belt, while some Democrats and allies of the administration defended the press event as a ‘very strong performance.’

‘This is a very strong performance. Quite frankly. ⁦@POTUS⁩ is putting on a master class in how foreign policy and domestic policy intersect, explaining how crucial American global leadership is to our people here at home. Well done, Mr. President,’ Democratic strategist Joel Rubin posted on X. 

Rubin was echoed by other Democrats, who argued Biden responded with strength as he fielded a bevy of questions from the media surrounding his foreign policy related to NATO and his mental acuity. 

Conservatives, meanwhile, overwhelmingly panned the press conference, citing the president’s handful of gaffes. 

Biden said during the press conference that Harris could fulfill the role of president, despite pushing against calls for him to bow out of the race and pass the mantle to his veep. 

‘First of all, the way she’s handled the issue of freedom of women’s bodies to have control over their bodies. Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. This was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a first-rate person, and in the Senate, she was really good,’ Biden said.

‘I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning. I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her,’ Biden said.

Biden’s press conference followed another gaffe earlier in the day, when he confused Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

‘And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination,’ Biden said. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.’ 

Biden quickly corrected himself, saying: ‘President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin – President Zelenskyy. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it.’

‘I’m better,’ Zelenskyy quipped back. 

‘You are a hell of a lot better,’ Biden responded.

Concerns surrounding Biden’s health and mental fitness are at a fever pitch this summer, as some Democrats call on him to quit the presidential race following his disastrous debate against Trump last month. Biden has rejected calls to drop out, vowing to remain in the race as his campaign and the White House ramp up his number of public events in an apparent effort to quell concerns the president isn’t up for another four-year term in the Oval Office. 

President Biden held a high-stakes press conference Thursday evening where he doubled down on his earlier pledge to remain in the presidential race while making a few gaffes, including trailing off on his thoughts and using the word ‘anyway’ at least nine times. 

‘I just got to just pace myself a lot more, pace myself. And the next debate, I’m not going to be traveling in 15 time zones a week before. Anyway, that’s what it was about,’ Biden said after reporters asked him about reports he needs to go to bed earlier in the day.

‘That’s what it was about. And, by the way, even with that, I love my staff. But they add things. They add things all the time. … I’m catching hell from my wife for that. Anyway,’ he continued.

Biden said ‘anyway’ at least nine times throughout the roughly 58-minute press conference, according to a transcript of the press event, sparking some on social media to joke about an ‘anyway drinking game.’

Biden’s press conference comes as concerns mount he is not mentally fit to serve another four years in the Oval Office, including 17 elected Democrats calling on the president to bow out of the race as he prepares to square off against former President Trump in November. 

‘Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled,’ Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on X after the press conference. ‘His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.

‘He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump.’ 

Conservatives slammed Biden on social media throughout the public event for his handful of gaffes, including holding up a list of reporters he planned to call on and appearing to confuse Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Trump, in addition to repeatedly saying ‘anyway.’

‘This NATO press conference with Biden is another disaster. It is inexplicable the people advising this man continue to think that somehow he’s not going to humiliate himself and this country. Why do they continue to allow this to happen?’ Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce posted to X during the press conference. 

Allies of the president, however, considered the press event a success, remarking on social media that Biden’s delivery while answering reporters’ questions was ‘strong.’

‘This is a very strong performance. Quite frankly. ⁦@POTUS⁩ is putting on a master class in how foreign policy and domestic policy intersect, explaining how crucial American global leadership is to our people here at home. Well done, Mr. President,’ Democratic strategist Joel Rubin posted on X. 

‘Tonight Joe Biden offered a lengthy, detailed dive on the major national security issues he’s juggling combined with a comfortable but forceful defense of his view of where this race stands. 50 minutes of Qs. He needed to show up big tonight and he did,’ former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield posted to X. 

The president again addressed concerns about his mental acuity during the presser, defiantly defending his record in office. 

‘Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in 3½ years, created 2,000 jobs just last week. So, if I slow down, I can’t get the job done. That’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet … none,’ he said. 

Biden also addressed whether Harris could serve as president, elaborating that he would not have chosen her as his running mate in 2020 if he thought otherwise. 

‘First of all, the way she’s handled the issue of freedom of women’s bodies to have control over their bodies. Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. This was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a first-rate person, and in the Senate, she was really good. I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning. I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her,’ he said. 

Biden addressed the media as he hosted NATO world leaders for the 75th anniversary of the defensive military alliance this week. 

President Biden’s highly anticipated solo press conference Thursday evening was panned as a ‘disaster’ on social media by conservatives, who criticized the president for a performance that they said featured Biden stumbling through answers to reporters’ questions about foreign policy and the 2024 presidential race.

‘This NATO press conference with Biden is another disaster. It is inexplicable the people advising this man continue to think that somehow he’s not going to humiliate himself and this country. Why do they continue to allow this to happen?’ Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce posted on X during the press conference. 

Biden joined the media Thursday afternoon while wrapping up a NATO summit in the nation’s capital, where the president made a series of gaffes, including confusing Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump, trailing off while answering a question, and announcing to the room that he had a list of reporters he would call on. 

‘This press conference is a disaster. Joe Biden is not answering the questions,’ Fox News contributor Leo Terrell posted on X during the press conference. 

‘Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ Press Conference with, ‘I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.’ Great job, Joe!’ Trump added on Truth Social. 

Conservatives and critics of the president unleashed on Biden’s press conference.

Biden’s press conference comes as he faces heightened concerns over his health in the wake of his poor debate performance late last month, which opened floodgates of concern in the Democratic Party that the president’s 81 years of age and alleged slipping mental acuity will cost the party as the Biden campaign squares up against Trump.

Biden has vowed to remain in the race despite rising concerns and calls for him to drop out and let another candidate take on Trump. 

‘There’s been a lot of speculation: What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do?’ Biden said Friday in a speech in Madison, Wisconsin. ‘Well, here’s my answer: I am running and going to win again.’

As speculation and calls for Biden to drop out, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week that Democrats are keeping their thoughts on Biden quiet ‘until we see how we go this week.’

‘Let’s just hold off,’ she said on MSNBC. ‘Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.’

Thursday marks the first time Biden has held a solo press conference since November of last year. 

President Biden faces a growing number of calls to step aside from the 2024 race for the White House, leading many Americans to question what the Democratic Party’s nomination process will look like if he stays in the race or ultimately allows for the selection of a new candidate.

Biden has stated several times since his damaging debate performance last month he will not drop out of the race. But matters would be less complicated for the Democratic Party if the president willfully chose to step aside before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from August 19-22.

Democrats will officially choose their nominee at the convention, though they reportedly plan to nominate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the convention next month.

At the convention, a candidate must win support from the majority of the party’s nearly 4,000 delegates, the party officials who formally select the nominee. Delegates are distributed to candidates based on the results of primary elections in each state.

For the Democratic Party, there are ‘pledged’ and ‘unpledged’ delegates. Pledged delegates have to vote for whichever candidate in their party wins the primary or caucus in their respective state, while unpledged delegates may choose to vote for any candidate. In the Democratic Party, unpledged delegates are known as ‘superdelegates,’ current elected officials and party leaders who can support any candidate.

A total of 1,976 delegates are needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president. Biden has won roughly 3,900 this year. Those delegates have ‘pledged’ to support Biden’s candidacy, according to DNC rules.

Though Biden has not indicated he plans to withdraw from the race, if he were to do so, his delegates would no longer be pledged to him. His withdrawal would lead to an open convention, resulting in Democrats being able to make suggestions for potential nominees and cast votes until one candidate receives a majority of delegate votes.

‘She’s a liability, but he would also, by getting rid of Kamala, insult and lose a valuable constituency. He’s not going to do that.’

— Craig Shirley, presidential historian

‘Biden has a hammerlock on those delegates and alternates. Only he can release them if he wants, and he’s not gonna release them,’ Craig Shirley, a presidential historian and biographer of former President Reagan, told Fox News Digital.

If Biden does not willingly drop out of the race, however, DNC regulations could seemingly make it possible for delegates to force Biden out of the race. Though it has not been tried in the modern political era, there is one rule that leaves open the possibility of giving delegates some leeway in who they support for the nomination.

Rule 13 (J) of the DNC’s Delegate Selection Rules states, ‘Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.’

To date, there is no definition or any prior history of what would constitute ‘in all good conscience.’

Shirley dismissed the rule, insisting the delegates will remain bound to Biden and that all of the ‘hype’ and ‘hot air spewing forth’ about what delegates will ultimately do is ‘all media (speculation) right now.’

‘What is going to happen is this: Biden is going to be renominated with Kamala Harris. He can’t afford to get rid of Kamala Harris because he’s stuck with her. He doesn’t want her. She’s a liability, but he would also, by getting rid of Kamala, insult and lose a valuable constituency. He’s not going to do that,’ Shirley said.

Though that rule is in place, the DNC could alter its own party rules at any point.

The rules have been changed in the past, for example, when President Lyndon B. Johnson decided not to seek re-election in 1968. At the time, the party shifted from an open convention process, where delegates could vote for whomever they wanted, to a bound process, where a delegate was attached to a candidate based on primary results.

The DNC is considering formally nominating Biden as early as mid-July, two Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News Digital this month.

A potential date for Biden’s nomination is July 21, the day the Democratic National Convention’s credentials committee meets virtually. Party officials have said the reason is that the convention falls after Ohio’s ballot deadline of Aug. 7. 

Earlier this summer, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation altering the state filing deadline to Aug. 31, ensuring the Democratic nominee could be placed on the state’s November ballot even without the early virtual roll call vote.

Word of the potential July 21 roll call was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.