John Mannion, a democrat, addresses a crowd at a church during an event with house minority leader Hakeem Jeffries regarding the CHIPS Act.
New York State Sen. John Mannion (right) held a rally with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (second from the right) held a "Get Out The Vote" rally on Saturday morning. Credit: Patrick McCarthy | Central Current

After House Speaker Mike Johnson spent Friday night trying to clean up comments made at a Syracuse rally that threw his support for the CHIPS and Science Act into doubt, Congressional candidate John Mannion took aim at Johnson’s comments. 

Mannion, who held his own rally with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Saturday morning, said he believed Republicans’ true intentions are to repeal the CHIPS Act. 

The CHIPS Act is a key incentive for companies like Micron that are looking to ramp up their United States-based production of semiconductors. The incentive is critical for Micron to come to Central New York.  

State Sen. Mannion, a Democrat, rebutted Johnson’s claim that he misheard a reporter’s question. 

“I don’t really know what a good rationale would be to not support the CHIPS and science legislation,” Mannion said. “But when you don’t understand our history and you don’t understand how well positioned we are to be a tech leader, a global tech leader, then you make statements like that.”

About 200 people rallied for Mannion at Tucker Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday morning. Mannion is running to unseat Brandon Williams in New York’s 22nd Congressional District. 

Cook Political Report tabbed NY-22 as one of the most flippable seats in the country because Democrats have an advantage in the number of registered voters in the district. 

Johnson said at the rally meant to boost Williams that House Republicans would “probably” try to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act if they retained control of the House and Donald Trump won the presidency. Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted out the video of Johnson’s initial comments and Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized Johnson’s comments. 

After significant backlash, Johnson issued a statement through Williams’ campaign saying he meant that the CHIPS Act needed reform but that it wasn’t legislation House Republicans intended to repeal. 

Mannion told reporters Saturday that Republicans are backpedaling because Johnson had revealed his true intentions.

“The truth is that there is going to be an effort on their side to repeal this legislation,” Mannion said.

Mannion said the Republicans were hoping to scare voters by associating the environmental review of the Micron project with the “Green New Deal” – progressive environmental legislation that has not been passed by the House.

Jeffries told reporters that the CHIPs and Science Act is critically important to the ongoing economic revival in Central New York. During the rally, Jeffries repeatedly called Johnson and Williams “MAGA extremists,” and said Johnson’s original answer should be taken at face value.

“Now they’re telling us what they want to do,” Jeffries said. “… They want to take a blowtorch to the CHIPs and Science Act.”

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Patrick McCarthy is a staff reporter at Central Current covering government and politics. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Maxwell and Newhouse Schools, McCarthy was born and raised in Syracuse and...