On October 25, 2023, following
the ousting of
Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, Johnson was elected as the 56th speaker of the House.
Early life and education
Johnson was born in
Shreveport, Louisiana, the oldest of four children to Jeanne Johnson and James Patrick "Pat" Johnson (who died in 2016).[1][2] He has said that he is the product of an unplanned pregnancy and that his parents were teenagers when they had him.[3] They later divorced.[4]
In 1984, while serving with the Shreveport Fire Department, Pat Johnson was severely injured and disabled in a fire at a cold storage facility. A fellow firefighter, Captain Percy R. Johnson, was killed in that fire. Pat Johnson never returned to work as a firefighter, choosing instead to become a
HazMat consultant. He also co-founded the Percy R. Johnson Burn Foundation, which aided burn victims and their families.[2][5][6]
The younger Johnson wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, but his parents forbade him from becoming a firefighter.[7]
In August 2010, Johnson was named the "founding dean" of the newly established Pressler School of Law at
Louisiana College. The law school never opened, and Johnson resigned in August 2012.[18]Joe Aguillard, the president of Louisiana College, blamed Johnson's resignation for the law school's failure.[19] The parent college has since been embroiled in administrative and legal problems.[20]
In 2015, Johnson founded Freedom Guard, a nonprofit legal ministry designed to represent Christian clients in lawsuits.[22] He was its chief counsel.[23] During his time in Freedom Guard, he "defended the sports chaplaincy program at Louisiana State University from attacks that it was unconstitutional".[22] Also, when Kentucky officials withdrew millions of dollars of tax breaks from the
Ark Encountertheme park in
Williamstown, Kentucky, because Ark Encounter required park employees to affirm that they held
Young Earth creationist beliefs, Johnson represented Ark Encounter and its owner,
Answers in Genesis, in a 2015 federal lawsuit.[24]
In September 2016, Johnson summarized his legal career as "defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they've been under assault".[25]
In April 2015, Johnson proposed the Marriage and Conscience Act. It would have prevented the state from engaging in adverse treatment of any person or entity based upon their beliefs about marriage.[30] Critics denounced the bill as an attempt to protect people who discriminate against same-sex married couples.[31][32]GovernorBobby Jindal pledged to sign Johnson's bill into law if it passed the legislature, commenting in a New York Times editorial that "musicians, caterers, photographers and others should be immune from government coercion on deeply held religious convictions".[33][34]IBM and other employers in the region expressed opposition to the bill, including concerns about hiring difficulties it would likely produce.[35] Other politicians also objected, including Republican
Baton Rouge Metro Councilman John Delgado, who called Johnson a "despicable bigot of the highest order" for proposing the bill. Johnson replied that he "wished Delgado had taken the time to review his record and career before making 'such hateful, wildly inaccurate statements'".[35]
On May 19, 2015, the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee voted 10–2 to table the bill, effectively ending its chances to become law.[36] Both Republicans and Democrats voted against the bill; other than Johnson, only Republican
Ray Garofalo voted for it.[36] In response, Jindal issued an
executive order to enforce its intent.[37][38]
In 2016, Johnson was a strong proponent of a movement to drastically amend or replace the
United States Constitution at a national convention called for that purpose. He helped lead the Louisiana House in formally petitioning Congress to call a "Convention of States" to overhaul the Constitution. He later held hearings on this proposal in Congress.[39]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
On February 10, 2016, Johnson announced his candidacy for the 4th congressional district seat, which had been held for eight years by
John Fleming. Fleming was running for the
United States Senate seat vacated by
David Vitter. Johnson won the election.[40][41][42][43]
In 2018, Johnson won a second House term, defeating Democratic nominee Ryan Trundle, 139,307 votes (64%) to 72,923 votes (34%).[44] In 2018, it was revealed he had received over $37,000 in campaign contributions from American Ethane, a company with only insignificant assets in the U.S. and controlled almost entirely by three Russian oligarchs. Johnson's former campaign manager said that, upon being "made aware of the situation", the campaign returned the donation; U.S. federal law prohibits the knowing acceptance of donations from foreign-owned businesses or foreign nationals and the businesses they own or control.[45]
In 2020, Johnson won a third House term with 185,265 votes (60%) to Democratic nominee Kenny Houston's 78,157 votes (25%).[46]
Johnson was sworn into office as a member of Congress on January 3, 2017.[48] He has served as a deputy whip for House Republicans,[49] as a member of the Judiciary Committee,[50] and as a member of the Armed Services Committee.[51] From 2019 to 2021, Johnson chaired the
Republican Study Committee.[52] Johnson served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2023.[53] He was supported by the
House Freedom Caucus PAC and frequently attended House Freedom Caucus meetings without formally joining the Caucus.[54][55]
On October 21, after
Steve Scalise and Jordan had made unsuccessful bids for speaker,[67][68] Johnson declared his candidacy to become the
new Republican nominee for speaker[69] but was beaten by Representative
Tom Emmer on October 24. Emmer defeated Johnson, 117 votes to 97, on the fifth ballot.[70] Shortly thereafter, Emmer withdrew his candidacy for the speakership.[71] Later on the same day, House Republicans voted to make Johnson their
fourth nominee for speaker; he beat
write-in candidate Kevin McCarthy and Representative
Byron Donalds, 128 votes to 43 and 29, on the third ballot.[72] Johnson's bid was endorsed by former U.S. President
Donald Trump.[73]
On October 25, the full House voted, 220–209,[74] to elect Johnson as the 56th
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives[75] with every Republican member in attendance voting for him.[76] Johnson was also sworn in as speaker on the same day.[74] He is the first speaker in U.S. history from Louisiana.[77] Johnson had served the shortest tenure of any House member elected speaker, at six years and ten months, since
John G. Carlisle in 1883.[78][79] Delivering his first remarks as speaker, he suggested that his position was ordained by God, saying: "I believe that
Scripture, the Bible, is very clear: that God is the one who raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you. All of us".[80]
On October 26, 2023, Johnson met with Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese of Australia during the latter's
state visit to the United States.[81] Later that day, he also met with President
Joe Biden for the first time as speaker before attending a bipartisan briefing held at the
White House on the administration's proposed funding requests for aid to
Ukraine and Israel.[82] On October 30, Johnson suggested rescinding IRS funding from the
Inflation Reduction Act to provide Israel $14.3 billion in aid.[83]
In November, Johnson proposed a two-tiered stopgap bill that continued spending at around current levels, but with no aid to Israel or Ukraine.[84] The bill was opposed by House conservatives and the
Freedom Caucus,[84][85][86] but passed the House on November 14 with the support of 209 Democrats and 127 Republicans.[84][86] It passed the Senate on the next day[87] and was signed by Biden.[88]
On November 17, Johnson announced that 44,000 hours of security footage from the
January 6 United States Capitol attack, all of which had previously only been available upon request from criminal defendants and the media, would be released to the general public. The announcement came after a pledge Johnson made to conservative hardliners during his run for speaker and was welcomed by Donald Trump.[89] As of December 2023, Johnson had released 162 hours of footage, less than 0.4% of the total.[90]
On December 1, the House expelled Republican congressman
George Santos by a 311–114 vote;[91] Johnson voted against the expulsion,[92] and called it "a regrettable day".[93]
On March 22, representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson as speaker of the House after he put up for a vote a
minibusspending bill opposed by a majority of the Republican conference (thereby violating the
Hastert convention). Although Greene could have forced a vote on the resolution within two legislative days if she introduced it as privileged, she chose not to, saying she simply wanted to send Johnson "a warning".[95][96] On April 16, 2024,
Thomas Massie became the second representative to support the resolution.[97]
The
118th United States Congress, in which both Johnson and McCarthy have served as House speaker, has been highly unproductive, producing very few bills that have been passed into law. Many analysts have attributed this to discord within the House Republican caucus.[98]
Johnson holds "ultraconservative positions on abortion [...] and same-sex marriages".[104] He is especially known for his extensive and outspoken opposition to legal abortion and gay rights, which began before he held elected office.[105]
In early November 2020, after many pollsters and media outlets called the
2020 United States presidential election in favor of Joe Biden over Donald Trump, Johnson said that he spoke to Trump twice, recounting that he urged Trump to "exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans' trust in the fairness of our election system" and that he was heartened by Trump's intention to ensure "that all instances of fraud and illegality are investigated and prosecuted".[106]
On November 17, 2020, Johnson said: "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. And when the president says the election was rigged, that's what he's talking about. The fix was in. [...] a software system that is used all around the country that is suspect because it came from
Hugo Chávez's
Venezuela".[106][107][108][109] By October 2022, Johnson said that he had never supported claims that there was massive fraud in the 2020 election.[110]
During the January
2021 United States Electoral College vote count, Johnson was one of 120 U.S. representatives who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results from both Arizona and Pennsylvania, while another 19 U.S. representatives objected for one of these states.[117]The New York Times called Johnson "the most important architect of the Electoral College objections" because he had argued to reject the results based on the argument of "constitutional infirmity" and persuaded "about three-quarters" of the objectors to use that rationale.[110] Johnson's argument was that certain state officials had violated the Constitution by relaxing restrictions on mail-in voting or
early voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic without consulting state legislatures.[110]
On May 19, 2021, Johnson and all other seven Republican House leaders in the 117th Congress voted against establishing a national commission to investigate the January 6, 2021,
storming of the United States Capitol. Thirty-five Republican House members and all 217 Democrats present voted to establish the commission.[118][119]
In 2015, Johnson blamed abortions and the "breakup [of] the nuclear family" for
school shootings, saying, "when you tell a generation of people that life has no value, no meaning, that it's expendable, then you do wind up with school shooters."[120][121] In 2015 and 2016, he led an
anti-abortion "Life March" in Shreveport-Bossier City.[122]
Johnson opposed Roe v. Wade.[123] In Congress, he has supported bills outlawing abortion both at fertilization and at 15 weeks' gestation.[124][125] In a 2017 House Judiciary Committee meeting, Johnson argued that Roe v. Wade made it necessary to cut social programs like
Social Security,
Medicare and
Medicaid because abortion reduced the labor force and thus damaged the economy.[123]
Johnson has co-sponsored bills attempting to ban abortion nationwide, such as the
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children From Late-Term Abortions Act, and the
Heartbeat Protection Act of 2021. All three bills would impose criminal penalties, including potential prison terms of up to five years, upon doctors who perform abortions.[123]
In January 2023, the House passed a resolution Johnson introduced that condemned "vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups, and churches", and added that the House "recognizes the sanctity of life and the important role pro-life facilities, groups, and churches play in supporting pregnant women, infants, and families".[126] At the same time the House passed several bills to assist pregnant women and students.[127]
Under Johnson, the Republican Study Committee in 2019 called
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's
Green New Deal the "Greedy New Steal", called "
wind and
solar" "the most inefficient energy sources we have", and claimed that living near wind turbines
could cause "depression and cognitive dysfunction".[128][129] Basing his views on a belief in the
great chain of being, a philosophical and theological concept describing a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, Johnson has also said that any proposed solution to anthropogenic global warming "defies the created order of how this is all supposed to work". According to Johnson, it is our duty to "take dominion of the Earth. You subdue it... We're supposed to eat those animals."[130]
As of October 2023, Johnson has received $338,125 in donations from the oil and gas industry during his congressional career.[131]
Covenant marriage
Johnson came to some prominence in the late 1990s when he and his wife appeared on television to promote new laws in Louisiana allowing
covenant marriages, under which divorce is much more difficult to obtain than in
no-fault divorce.[32] In 2005, Johnson appeared on
ABC's Good Morning America to promote covenant marriages, saying, "I'm a big proponent of marriage and fidelity and all the things that go with it".[4]
Donald Trump
In 2015, Johnson wrote on Facebook that "Donald Trump... lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House", adding: "I am afraid he would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.... I just don't think he has the demeanor to be President."[132]
In 2019, during Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's investigation, Johnson defended Trump, saying that Trump had "cooperated fully" with the investigation and "done nothing wrong".[133]
Johnson rejects the scientific consensus on evolution and holds
young-earth creationist beliefs.[137] He helped the
Creation Museum secure millions of dollars in tax subsidies to build a life-sized
Ark Encounter, which teaches the discredited claim that dinosaurs accompanied
Noah on his
Ark[138] and that the earth is 6,000 years old.[139] In 2016, Johnson delivered a sermon that called the teaching of
evolution one of the causes of
mass shootings: "People say, 'How can a young person go into their schoolhouse and open fire on their classmates?' Because we've taught a whole generation—a couple generations now—of Americans: that there's no right or wrong, that it's about survival of the fittest, and you evolve from the primordial slime. Why is that life of any sacred value? Because there's nobody sacred to whom it's owed."[121][140]
Prior to his election as speaker of the House, Johnson repeatedly voted against assisting Ukraine in
its war against Russia by sending military and financial aid.[100]
After his election as speaker, he said he was "open to talks" regarding Biden's request for additional funds to help the Ukrainian "counter-offensive against Russia".[3] In December 2023, Johnson said that aid for Ukraine would be predicated on new border-security measures.[141] In January 2024, he opposed a bipartisan, Senate Republican-sponsored border security package that included aid for Ukraine and other U.S. allies.[142][143]
Israel-Palestine relations
Johnson visited Israel in February 2020 with 12Tribe Films Foundation.[144]
The first measure the House considered after Johnson became speaker was a resolution expressing support for Israel after the
2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Johnson voted for the resolution.[145][146][147] On November 2, 2023, the House passed a Johnson-supported bill to give Israel $14.3 billion in aid.[148]
In 2019, in his capacity as chair of the Republican Study Committee, Johnson spearheaded an effort to replace the ACA. The committee's plan would have rescinded the ACA's Medicaid expansion.[151]
Immigration
Johnson supported Trump's
2017 executive order to prohibit
immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, saying: "This is not an effort to ban any religion, but rather an effort to adequately protect our homeland. We live in a dangerous world, and this important measure will help us balance freedom and security."[152]
As of 2023, Johnson had "introduced legislation three times aimed at tightening the asylum system, including by raising the bar on undocumented immigrants to establish their claim of fear of persecution".[153]
In 2023, Johnson voted for an amendment that would eliminate funding for immigration and refugee assistance.[154][better source needed]
In January 2024, Johnson opposed a bipartisan, Senate Republican-backed border security and immigration bill that would also provide funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. During border negotiations, Johnson said that he discussed immigration policy frequently with Trump.[142][143][155]
In-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem-cell research
In 2023, Johnson co-sponsored legislation declaring that human life and personhood begin at conception with no exception for
in-vitro fertilization treatments involving embryos or embryonic stem-cell research.[156][157][158] In 2024, after public backlash to an
Alabama Supreme Court decision ruling that embryos are children under Alabama state law, meaning fertility clinics were liable for the loss of embryos as if they were children, Johnson announced that he supports access to in-vitro fertilization.[159] But on March 7, 2024, he clarified that he does not support federal legislation to protect legal access to IVF, saying he believes it is a state issue.[160][161]
Homosexuals do not meet the criteria for a suspect class under the
equal protection clause because they are neither disadvantaged nor identified on the basis of immutable characteristics, as all are capable of changing their abnormal lifestyles.
In another article, Johnson called homosexuality "inherently unnatural" and a "dangerous lifestyle"; he argued that if same-sex marriage was allowed, "then we will have to do it for every deviant group. Polygamists, polyamorists, pedophiles, and others will be next in line to claim equal protection. They already are. There will be no legal basis to deny a bisexual the right to marry a partner of each sex, or a person to marry his pet". Johnson further concluded that allowing
same-sex marriage would put the country's "entire democratic system in jeopardy".[15][163] In another article, he wrote that unnamed experts "project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic".[15][166]
In 2005, Johnson campaigned against
GLSEN's annual anti-bullying
Day of Silence, telling NBC News: "that's cloaking their real message—that homosexuality is good for society".[167]
Johnson strongly opposed the U.S. Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, which ruled that most sanctions of criminal punishment for private sexual conduct between consenting adults are unconstitutional. These sanctions were
mostly used to prosecute homosexual activity, although many could also theoretically be applied to heterosexual couples who engage in
oral sex and
anal sex. As the case was litigated, Johnson wrote a prominent
amicus brief in favor of criminalizing consensual same-sex intercourse, arguing that sex between men should be banned because it is more likely to spread
sexually transmitted diseases and therefore poses "a distinct public health problem".[168]
Johnson also staunchly opposed Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized
same-sex marriage nationally.[169][170] He previously wrote an editorial suggesting that gay people marrying each other could prompt people to start marrying animals.[168] In a televised interview shortly after he was elected speaker, Johnson said, "I am a rule-of-law guy. I made a career defending the rule of law. I respect the rule of law. When the Supreme Court issued the Obergefell opinion, that became the law of the land, OK. I respect the rule of law and also genuinely love all people, regardless of their lifestyle choices".[171][172]
In 2019, when Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee, the committee published a statement criticizing the removal of clinical psychologist and
conversion therapy advocate
Joseph Nicolosi's works from availability on
Amazon. The committee asserted that Amazon was engaging in censorship by declining to make Nicolosi's works available for sale.[173][174]
At a July 2023 hearing on
transgender youth, Johnson spoke against allowing children and teenagers to receive
gender-affirming care, saying: "Our American legal system recognizes the important public interest in protecting children from abuse and physical harm".[176] He has co-sponsored legislation that would make it a felony to provide opposite-sex hormones or gender-affirming surgeries to minors.[177]
On October 25, 2023, the day Johnson was elected speaker of the House,
Human Rights Campaign President
Kelley Robinson called him "the most anti-equality Speaker in U.S. history".[105] Republican
Meghan McCain voiced her disappointment over Johnson's election as speaker, calling him a "raging homophobe".[168]
In 2016, Johnson opposed the expansion of
medical marijuana in Louisiana. He argued that medical marijuana can actually worsen some conditions, specifically
epilepsy, quoting the
American Epilepsy Society's studies that it can cause "severe
dystonic reactions and other movement disorders, developmental regression, intractable vomiting, and worsening seizures" in children with epilepsy.[178]
As of 2023, Johnson had twice voted against the decriminalization of marijuana.[153]
In 2024, a legislative proposal to force the government to obtain a warrant before querying the data of U.S. citizens caught up in foreign surveillance failed by a vote of 212 to 212, with Johnson
casting the deciding vote against. He had opposed warrantless queries in the past but said he had changed his mind after receiving classified briefings from the
FBI showing the pitfalls of the warrant requirement.[182]
In April 2018, Johnson joined Republican state
Attorney GeneralJeff Landry and
Christian evangelist
Kirk Cameron to argue under the
First Amendment for student-led
prayer and religious expression in public schools. Johnson and Landry appeared, with Cameron who spoke on a promotional video, at prayer rallies at the First Baptist Church of
Minden and Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City. The gatherings were organized by area pastors, including Brad Jurkovich of First Baptist Bossier, in response to a lawsuit filed in February against the
Bossier Parish School Board and the superintendent, Scott Smith. Smith and the board were accused of permitting teachers to incorporate various aspects of Christianity in their class presentations.[183]
Separation of church and state
Johnson has referred to the "so-called
separation of church and state". He has asserted that "the founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around."[184]
In 2018, Johnson said that
entitlement reform is his "number one priority", adding that
reforms to entitlement programs have to "happen yesterday" to maintain their long-term solvency.[190][191][192]
Taxes
In December 2017, Johnson voted for the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.[193] After voting for the Act, he called the economy "stunted" and a "burden" on Americans, adding, "The importance of this moment cannot be overstated. With the first comprehensive tax reform in 31 years, we will dramatically strengthen the U.S. economy and restore economic mobility and opportunity for hardworking individuals and families all across this country."[194] Johnson claimed that reducing corporate taxes "will unleash the free market again" and "could get [GDP growth] as high as 6 or 7 percent".[195]
Personal life
Johnson married Kelly Renee Lary on May 1, 1999.[196] The Johnsons have said their marriage is a
covenant marriage.[4] Their primary residence is in Benton, Louisiana.[197]
The Johnsons have five children, including an adult son, Michael Tirrell James. Johnson met James at an event for
Young Life Ministries,[198] took him in, and assumed his legal guardianship when he was either 14 or 16.[199][200][contradictory] In 2019, Johnson said, "We took custody of Michael and made him part of our family 22 years ago when we were just newlyweds and Michael was just 14 and was out on the streets", placing the event in 1997.[201] In 2020, Johnson said, "We took Michael in almost 20 years ago; he was 14."[200]
Johnson and his wife have co-hosted the podcast Truth Be Told since March 2022, discussing public affairs and other issues from a Christian perspective.[203] On his podcast, Johnson said that "the Word of God is, of course, the ultimate source of all truth", and attributed the success of the United States to its foundation upon a "religious statement of faith".[12]
^"Meet Mike". mikejohnson.house.gov. United States Congress. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
^
abcMcHugh, Calder (October 25, 2023).
"Johnson is a social conservative's social conservative". Politico.
Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023. I am a Christian, a husband, a father, a life-long conservative, constitutional law attorney and a small business owner in that order.
^Lavietes, Matt (October 26, 2023).
"New House speaker's views on LGBTQ issues under fresh scrutiny". NBC News.
Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023. That same year, he wrote a prominent amicus brief in the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, arguing in favor of allowing states to criminalize same-sex consensual sex.
^Duffy, Nick (October 25, 2023).
"Low-profile Republican Mike Johnson becomes US House Speaker after factional war". I.
Archived from the original on October 25, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023. Mike Johnson supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election and comes from the party's Christian right faction, supporting a nationwide ban on abortion and pushing to overturn same-sex marriage
^
abcSteakin, Will (October 26, 2023).
"How new House Speaker Mike Johnson spent years fighting against gay rights". ABC News.
Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023. ...Johnson described homosexuals as "sinful" and "destructive" and argued support for homosexuality could lead to support for pedophilia. He also authored op-eds that argued for criminalizing gay sex.
^March for Life Education and Defense Fund. (19 January 2024). "CLIP OF PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES & SUPPORTERS ATTEND MARCH FOR LIFE RALLY-Speaker Johnson Addresses March for Life".
C-Span website Retrieved 20 January 2024.
^Scott, Rachel; Siegel, Benjamin; Peller, Lauren; Beth Hensley, Sarah (October 25, 2023).
"Who is new House Speaker Mike Johnson?". ABC News.
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