Rep. Mike Johnson pulled off a feat few believed possible Wednesday by becoming the 56th House speaker — with the full support of his GOP colleagues.
Barely known outside the Beltway, Johnson (R-La.), 51, was first elected to Congress in 2016 after fewer than two years in the Pelican State’s legislature.
Even some prominent Republican senators didn’t seem to know much about him, with Susan Collins of Maine telling reporters Wednesday morning that she planned to Google the new speaker.
But among House Republicans, Johnson is no unknown quantity. Before his rapid ascension to speaker, he served as Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, making him the No. 5-ranked GOPer in the lower chamber.
Prior to that, Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee between 2019 and 2021.
After receiving his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University, Shreveport native Johnson made a splash in the legal arena during the early 2000s.
He worked as a partner in North Louisiana’s prominent Kitchens Law Firm and served as a spokesman for the pro-religious liberty Alliance Defense Fund, now called the Alliance for Defending Freedom.
At one point, in 2004, Johnson publicly supported an amendment to ban gay marriage in the Louisiana Constitution.
In 2015, he ran unopposed for a vacant seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. The following year, Johnson sought and won Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District seat, which had been held by GOP Rep. John Fleming before he gave it up to pursue an unsuccessful Senate run.
Johnson has been compared to former Vice President Mike Pence for his staunch Christian faith and cool public demeanor.
While in Congress, Johnson has championed anti-abortion legislation, including a ban on the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy; proposed legislation restricting federal funds from sex education courses for children under 10 that discuss LGBTQ issues; and opposed a bill to codify same-sex marriage nationally.
Johnson is married to Kelly Lary and has four children.
A key grievance for many Democrats is Johnson’s role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election result.
On Jan. 6, 2021, 139 House Republicans voted against accepting Joe Biden’s victory, elevating fears among Democrats that efforts to decertify the 2024 election could gain steam under a GOP-controlled House.
Johnson was one of the members who objected, but he also went a step further. In December 2020, he helped gather signatures to back a legal brief buttressing a lawsuit out of Texas to challenge the results.
In a radio interview at the time, the Louisiana congressman suggested that the election was “rigged.”
“You know the allegations about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion, there’s a lot of merit to that,” he said.
Johnson was pressed by an ABC reporter Tuesday evening about his 2020 election machinations. House Republicans who flanked him laughed and booed at the question. He demurred.
Biden diminished concerns about Johnson undercutting the 2024 election when asked Wednesday.
“Just like I was not worried that the last guy would,” he told reporters Wednesday. “They [had] about 60 lawsuits that go all the way to the Supreme Court and every time they lost. I understand the Constitution.”
The prospect of shipping additional resources to Ukraine under a Johnson speakership is looking dim.
Johnson was initially a proponent of aid to the war-torn nation when Russia’s invasion began in early 2022, but has since grown wary of further assistance.
He has voted against multiple proposed packages, including a $39.8 billion measure last May as well as one last month.
The new speaker has also called for more robust oversight of assistance to Ukraine.
“American taxpayers have sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine in the last year,” he wrote on X back in February. “They deserve to know if the Ukrainian government is being entirely forthcoming and transparent about the use of this massive sum of taxpayer resources.”
Biden unveiled a sprawling $106 billion aid request last week, featuring $61.4 billion for Ukraine as well as support for Israel, border security, and the Indo-Pacific.
Johnson is a staunch backer of Israel.
Now that Congress has effectively lost 22 calendar days due to its speaker paralysis, Johnson will quickly have to steer his conference through another government shutdown fight before Nov. 17.
Prior to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ouster, the House managed to wrangle four of the 12 needed appropriations bills to fund the government.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Senate had not passed any of the appropriations bills, but was considering a “minibus” package of three of them.
Complicating the process is the fact that the Senate and the House are not on the same page about top-line numbers, with the lower chamber wanting much less discretionary spending.
Johnson laid out a brisk itinerary to Republicans to effectively try to push through the remaining bills before the Nov. 17 deadline.
He also expressed support for a continuing resolution through Jan. 15 or April 15 of 2024 to buy time and “ensure the Senate cannot logjam the House with a Christmas omnibus.”
Notably, McCarthy’s backing of a CR was widely seen as the catalyst for the eight Republicans who joined with 208 of Democrats to depose him.
But given that Johnson has inherited the current situation, hardliners appear to be more forgiving toward him — at least for now.
During a speech on the House floor Wednesday, Johnson also stressed his desire to return to regular order and empower rank-and-file members of his party.
Johnson is the fourth House Republican to receive the party’s nomination to be speaker following Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)
He emerged as one of nine House Republicans to campaign for the speakership during a candidate forum Monday night after Jordan dropped out.
Emmer won the party nod to be speaker from there, but withdrew Tuesday, passing the baton to Johnson, who managed to unite both skeptical moderates and conservative hardliners.
His victory marks the 19th time House Republicans voted for a speaker of the House this year alone, an unprecedented number in post-Civil War US history.
Johnson is largely untested in a top-tier leadership position, with no prominent committee chairmanships under his belt.
Looming over his tenure will be the threat of Republicans furnishing a motion to vacate the chair and topple him like a small band of dissenters did to McCarthy.