Speaker Mike Johnson on his first full day leading the House weathered a barrage of attacks from Democrats about his conservative positions and Christian faith.
A relative unknown among Democrats before his surprise ascension to the speaker’s rostrum, Mr. Johnson was immediately branded a “MAGA extremist” who was a threat to abortion and LGBTQ rights, public safety funding and Social Security checks.
The blistering attacks on Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, showcased Democrats’ certitude that he was a liability for swing-district Republicans and a boon for Democrats’ quest to retake the House majority in 2024.
“Republicans have chosen a MAGA acolyte to push an extreme agenda in the House at the expense of middle-class families,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that works to elect the party’s member to the House.
Ms. DelBene said House Republicans’ unanimous vote to make Mr. Johnson speaker was a badge of shame that voters will remember.
“They abandoned the American people for Mike Johnson‘s extreme agenda to pass a national abortion ban, defund law enforcement, and slash Social Security and Medicare,” she said. “They made their choice. And voters will make theirs next year when they reject Republican extremism and help Democrats take back the majority.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York called Mr. Johnson, who is a constitutional lawyer, an “election denier” for joining more than 100 GOP lawmakers in an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit to overturn 2020 election results in four swing states that Mr. Biden won.
Mr. Jeffries wasn’t done yet.
“Mike Johnson also wants to end Social Security and Medicare as we know it. Those are extreme views, and House Democrats will push back aggressively against that,” he said on CNN.
Mr. Jeffries, who also wants to cultivate a working relationship with Mr. Johnson, softened his tone slightly when pressed by reporters at the Capitol. He said his sharp criticism was not directed at any individual but at the “entirety of the House Republican Conference.”
Rep. Marc Molinaro, a moderate Republican from a swing district in New York, said he doesn’t agree with Mr. Johnson on every issue. But he said the new speaker assured him that “members like me should have a seat at the table.”
“He is a man of common decency,” he said.
Mr. Molinaro also said the attacks come with the territory. “The Democrats are going to write these ads anyway,” he said.
Democratic Party allies also launched attacks on Mr. Johnson.
Allen Morris, National LGBTQ Task Force Policy Director, said he would be “hard-pressed to think of a worse member to be elected speaker of the house, not simply for LGBTQ communities, but for the American people.”
“Many of my family members have resided in the 4th Congressional district of Louisiana for decades,” he said. “This entire process of choosing a new speaker of the House has only served to expose even more how MAGA extremism continues to degrade our ability to allow Congress to reconcile the important issues impacting us.”
Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of the leftwing activist group Make the Road Action, singled out swing-district
Reps. Anthony D’Esposito and Mike Lawler of New York, Tom Keane Jr. of New Jersey and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania for voting “in lockstep [for] extremist Johnson.”
“Their willingness to empower such a reprehensible figure has shown us their true MAGA colors,” he said in a statement. “If you’re concerned about the threats to our democracy and our freedoms, electing him to become the next Speaker is like hiring an arsonist to be a firefighter.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina told The Washington Times the attacks against Mr. Johnson are re-treads against former GOP speakers and will not work.
“It’s a game they tried to play with John Boehner and Paul Ryan. ‘He’s gonna push granny off the cliff in a wheelchair,’” Mr. Hudson said, referencing the fiscal cliff political ad battle Democrats slammed Republicans with during the 2012 election.
“I just don’t think it’ll be very successful because our candidates in competitive districts are there because they are very strong candidates, and they fit their districts very well. They got very strong brands,” he said. “They’re working very hard on the issues that their constituents care about. How some guy who has a title in Washington voted isn’t going to impact them.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.