Exclusive | Speaker Mike Johnson issues warning to NY Dems’ plotting to keep House seat vacant and slow Trump agenda: ‘Corrupt plan’

House Speaker Mike Johnson pledged to “challenge” a plot by Albany Democrats to keep a New York congressional seat vacant — and disrupt the delicate balance of power in Washington, DC, The Post exclusively learned.

In a blistering statement Sunday, Johnson condemned the Dems’ talks to change state election laws to keep GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik’s deep-red upstate District 21 seat open well after her expected resignation when she is likely to become President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

“Instead of working to address high costs, taxes, or fees, the illegal immigration crisis, crime, antisemitism on college campuses, or other priorities—New York Democrats are instead working feverishly to silence the voices and needs of more than 750,000 citizens in New York’s 21st Congressional District,” Johnson seethed. “In an open display of political corruption, they are aiming to change the election rules to add a long delay in filling the NY-21 seat.

“Gov. Hochul and other top Democrats are willing accomplices in this delay scheme because they know the seat will be filled by another Republican. We will continue to hold these politicians accountable and challenge their corrupt plan so that hardworking families across Upstate New York and the North Country get the representation they deserve, and House Republicans can deliver on our America-First mandate.”

The rage by the usually mild-mannered Johnson stems his precarious position as a Republican Speaker with a razor-thin and fractious 218-215 House majority.

Albany Dems met last week to mull changing the state’s election law to delay special elections — including potential pending ones such as Stefanik’s — until the June primaries, or perhaps November’s general election.

With Stefanik expected to step down soon, that delay would leave Republicans with an even-slimmer majority and more opportunities for rambunctious representatives to play havoc with Trump’s nascent agenda.

Stefanik’s conservative upstate district is all-but-certain to elect another Republican in a special election if and when she steps down.

The current law calls for Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a special election within 10 days of Stefanik’s resignation.

The special election itself must take place 80-90 days after that declaration.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, when quizzed Monday by reporters on her fellow Democrats’ plans, said she’ll look at what Albany Democrats hatch.

She noted that she was elected to Congress in a 2011 special election, and argued that more needed to be done to increase voter turnout in such contests.

“You can always count on one thing, and that is Republicans will scream loudly if there’s ever an effort to bring voter access to more people,” she said. “They just don’t like it.”

Hochul said some states keep congressional seats open for 669 days. She said the Empire State’s compact timeline “doesn’t make sense either.”

“What a very short timeframe does is it favors people who are already elected officials versus a citizen who wants to run, because there’s a lot involved in this,” she said.

Additional reporting by Jon Levine and Vaughn Golden