Mike Johnson Is the New Speaker Of The House, He’s Also An Election Denier And Far Right Extremist
On the 21st day since the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, Republicans have elected far-right Congressman Mike Johnson to be the next Speaker.
Johnson, a relative unknown in Congressman from Louisiana secured 220 votes, more than the necessary 217, to take the speaker’s gavel after rounds of Republican conference votes, numerous failed nominees, and nearly a month of dysfunctional governance.
Johnson, who has been a staunch Trump supporter since he was elected, has been described as an “architect” in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. During the post-election legal effort, in which the Trump campaign filed over 60 lawsuits and lost all but one of them, Johnson circulated an email asking his colleagues to sign onto a “friend-of-the-court” brief supporting the state of Texas’ lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decertify the election results in four key states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Not only is Johnson an election denier, but the Louisiana Republican touts an extremely far-right voting record and has called for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Johnson is also an evangelical Christian, who has said “my faith informs everything I do.” He has voted for a national abortion ban and co-sponsored at least three bills that would restrict abortion on a nationwide level. The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has given him an A+ rating.
Congressman Johnson has gone as far as to state he believes doctors who perform abortions should be imprisoned and forced to do hard labor.
Johnson is also a vocal climate denier who penned an op-ed in 2017 denying human’s role in climate change.
He has also opposed LGBTQ rights at every turn. He voted against bipartisan legislation to codify same-sex marriage, which President Biden signed into law earlier this year. In 2022, he introduced what advocates called a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The legislation would have banned classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through the third grade. Johnson called the bill “common sense.”
While Johnson’s election means an end to the chaos caused by the empty Speaker’s chair, it also means the far-right extremists in Congress are more emboldened than ever. An election-denying bigot like Johnson should never hold the position he does now and his Speakership raises the already high stakes of the 2024 election. Democracy will be up and down the ballot next November, and we must all work to protect it.
