Who is Mike Johnson?
In my last piece, I talked about the ongoing battle for who will succeed Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives. To this day, there still needs to be an official Speaker. Patrick McHenry was the acting Speaker. Former President Trump endorsed Jim Jordan to be the House Speaker, but Jordan did not receive enough votes. After that, Tom Emmer received the support of the Republican Caucus. After this news broke, Trump called Emmer a Republican-In-Name-Only (RINO) and he immediately withdrew his bid for Speaker. Many Republicans threw their names in for Speaker, including Byron Donalds, Kevin Hern, and Matt Rosendale who nominated Kevin Hern for Speaker back in January. Last week, the process officially ended. We finally have a new speaker. His name is Mike Johnson and he hails from Louisiana.
Going into the speakership vote, the majority of American voters did not have a clue who Mike Johnson was. He was not a big name to succeed McCarthy, but he emerged towards the end as a viable replacement for McCarthy. Johnson received unanimous support from all Republicans in Congress as they voted 220-209 for Johnson to be Speaker of the House. The first act that Speaker Johnson did was to condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks and stand with the Jewish community and Israel, the most important ally of the United States in the Middle East.
Johnson was born on January 30, 1972 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He graduated high school in 1995 and later graduated from Lousiana State University with a bachelor’s in Business administration and has been married to his wife Kelly since 1999. They reside in Benton, Louisiana with their four children. They co-host the podcast “Truth be Told” where the couple discuss public affairs and other topics from a Christian point of view.
Before Johnson was a Congressman, he served as Senior Legal Counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, now known better as Alliance Defending Freedom. Johnson briefly served in the Louisiana House of Representatives succeeding Jeff Thompson who vacated the seat as Thompson became a judge. In April 2015, Johnson succeeded Thompson in an unopposed election.
Johnson first ran for Congress in 2016. The seat was held prior by John Fleming, who chose not to run for Congress and instead ran for U.S. Senate. The current Senator, David Vitter, chose not to seek reelection. Johnson won the election. He then ran again in 2018, 2020, and in 2022 he ran unopposed. During Johnson’s tenure in Congress, he has served as Chair of the Republican Study Committee during the 116th Congress. During the 117th Congress, he served as the Vice Chair of the House Republican Caucus.
Congress is officially back in session. It is time for Republicans to continue to stay vigilant and do the work that the people deserve. Democrats have already drawn Republicans as “unable to govern”. Republicans can prove the Democrats wrong by passing crucial legislation. They have already started by passing a resolution that condemns Hamas. Republicans can also stay on offense by cutting wasteful spending, restoring SALT, and protecting parental rights.