House Speaker Mike Johnson comes to Colorado, calls Evans-Rutinel race one that will decide control of Congress

Speaker of the U.S. House Mike Johnson was in Colorado Friday fundraising for two Republican congressmen: Rep. Gabe Evans of the state's 8th Congressional District and Rep. Jeff Crank of the 5th Congressional District.

Cook Political Report moved Crank's race, and Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd's race in the 3rd Congressional District, from "solidly Republican" to "likely Republican." Evans' Congressional District 8 race is one of a handful that could decide control of the U.S. House.

Midterms are always challenging for the party in control. A sitting president has picked up seats in a midterm election only two times in 90 years. Republicans face other headwinds, too, including high gas and food prices, a war in Iran, daily protests over immigration enforcement tactics, and a CBS News poll showing President Trump's approval rating sits at 39%.

But Johnson says he's bullish on the GOP's chances and especially Evans' chances in CD8.

"This is a guy who goes to work every day with the interests of his district, the state of Colorado and America at heart. And he outworks almost everybody on Capitol Hill," Johnson said.

Johnson: CD8 race one of top 5 that will decide control of Congress

Johnson says Evans' race is one of the top five in the country Republicans are investing in.

He and Evans insist many of the problems Colorado is facing are due to state, not federal policies.

"If these things that Coloradans -- that folks in my district -- are facing, if these were the result of national policies, you would expect Colorado's statistics to be, like, roughly in the middle of the bell curve, but they're not," said Evans. "Colorado is an extreme outlier in all of the wrong categories, when you look at crime, when you look at cost of living."

Johnson says Republicans have laid the groundwork for a strong economy.

"As soon as we get the Iran skirmish settled down, I think everybody's going to have much more economic opportunity," Johnson said.

Both Johnson and Evans support the war in Iran, saying it was necessary to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. They also defended the Trump administration's immigration policies.

"What I'm seeing is a measured approach to law enforcement right now that they are taking care of business and getting dangerous criminal illegals out of our communities," said Johnson.

He says Evans' Democratic opponent, Manny Rutinel, is a radical leftist who has attacked farmers, ranchers, and fracking.

Rutinel's campaign released a statement saying: "What's extreme is the fact that Johnson and Evans kicked 140,000 Coloradans off Medicaid to pay for billionaire tax breaks and voted to greenlight Trump's tariffs and forever wars raising our costs."

President Trump, Victor Marx may impact Evans' race

Rutinel isn't the only challenge Evans faces. President Trump is enormously unpopular in Colorado and Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx is highly controversial.

Neither Johnson nor Evans wanted to talk about Marx. Johnson says voters are swayed by more than a candidate's party affiliation.

"I think people go down the ballot and evaluate these candidates on their own merits," Johnson said.

Evans says he hopes voters will support him based on his record.

"I'm very confident that the voters are going to send me back to Washington D.C. for two more years because I'm fighting to protect their jobs. I'm fighting to protect our economy. I'm fighting to make sure that they have a safe community to raise their kids in and raise their families," he said.

Watch CBS Colorado's complete interview with Johnson and Evans.