House Republicans are seeking unity at an idyllic West Virginia retreat. Many didn’t bother to come

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — House Republicans huddled in West Virginia on Thursday for a strategy-planning retreat designed to unify the often-fractious conference as they head into the final months before the November election.

One problem: Many didn’t bother to show up.

It was the first annual retreat for House Speaker Mike Johnson since he took the speaker’s gavel late last year after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from office in a historic move that left Republicans deeply divided and mired in dysfunction.

Johnson does not currently appear at risk of suffering the same fate. But he is trying to figure out how to guide his razor-thin majority through a series of legislative hurdles that divide Republicans, including how to provide military aid for Ukraine, finish government funding and reauthorize a federal surveillance program — all while trying to make a case that voters should reelect a House GOP majority.

Johnson said his message to the Republicans was simple: “We have to stand together, stick together, get the job done, deliver for the American people.”

Democrats have expressed growing confidence they can retake the House in November, but Johnson promised that lawmakers would be in a “better mood next January” if Republicans could sweep the House, Senate and White House.

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