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Following three failed GOP speakership bids in the three weeks since Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, the House elected Rep. Mike Johnson of Lousiana on Wednesday to be the next speaker of the House.

He won with the unanimous support of House Republicans.

Johnson, a relatively unknown 51-year-old congressman first elected in 2016, is a staunch social conservative and evangelical Christian who already served in party leadership as the vice chair of the House GOP conference.

He may have been the best man for the job simply because he has no major enemies — he has good relationships with members of the hard right flank of the conference, and he’s collegial and low-profile enough for more vulnerable lawmakers to accept.

The Louisiana Republican became the party’s nominee after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s candidacy was derailed by former President Donald Trump, who called Emmer a “RINO” as dozens of hardliners made clear they were not ready to support his candidacy. Emmer was ultimately the party’s nominee for just over four hours before he withdrew on Tuesday.

Last week, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio was the party’s nominee, losing support with each successive floor vote until he was voted down by the conference on Friday. Before that, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was briefly the nominee.

As the speaker, Johnson will be second in line to the presidency behind Vice President Kamala Harris. Here’s what you need to know about him.

Last year, he introduced a bill similar to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law

Johnson with fellow Republicans after claiming the GOP nomination on Tuesday night.
Johnson with fellow Republicans after claiming the GOP nomination on Tuesday night. 

Last October, Johnson led over two dozen of his colleagues in introducing the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022.”

The bill is essentially the national version of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law — dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.

The bill prohibits federal funds from being used to promote “any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10” and bans federal funding from being used for drag shows or “Drag Queen Story Hour.”

But the bill’s definition of “sexually-oriented material” includes “any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related subjects.”

That’s led the Human Rights Campaign to condemn the bill as the “latest cruel attempt to stigmatize and marginalize the community.”

He played a bigger role than most House Republicans in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election

Johnson speaking on the House floor on January 6, 2021.
Johnson speaking on the House floor on January 6, 2021. 

Like most of his GOP colleagues, Johnson voted against certifying the electoral college results from Arizona and Pennsylvania, even after a mob ransacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

But Johnson was also the lead organizer of an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of Texas’s lawsuit asking the court to halt the certification of the vote in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The day after President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, Johnson said he called Trump and encouraged him to “keep fighting.”


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