House GOP leaders take victory lap with majority in their sights

• Votes are still being counted in 27 uncalled House races, but even Democrats admit that Republicans are on track to keep their majority in 2025.
• National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) told lawmakers on the call that he expected the GOP to win about a dozen more seats, one lawmaker told Axios.

The big picture: Johnson lauded the party's efforts over the campaign cycle to make up a fundraising deficit with Democrats, another source on the call said.

• Johnson pointed out that he and his affiliated political action committee — the Congressional Leadership Fund — raised $300 million for House Republicans since he was named speaker just over a year ago, according to the source.

Zoom in: House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) told members that the party was successful overall in New York, for instance, despite losing seats, in part because Democrats poured so much money into races in the Empire State with little success.

• "This is an overall win in New York for what Democrats spent," Stefanik said.

• Sources told Axios that California Rep. Ken Calvert predicted he'd retain his seat and that fellow California Republicans Michelle Steel and David Valadao's races "should be good' as well.

What he's saying: Johnson told his members that Republicans — who also won control of the Senate and the White House — have a "mandate" to govern and called on them to unite behind a policy agenda.

• "We gotta execute these plays with precision in January as soon as we're handed the ball," Johnson said, according to a source on the call.