U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson was elected the 56th Speaker of the House Wednesday following three weeks of infighting among Republicans, thrusting the relatively unknown politician into the national spotlight and placing him second in line to the presidency.
Johnson was elected with unanimous support from the GOP caucus, more than three weeks after the House ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then struggled to find a replacement. Johnson was the fourth representative to win a majority of votes from the GOP caucus during that time frame but the first to receive a majority of votes on the House floor.
“The people’s House is back in business,” Johnson said.
Here are five things you should know about Johnson:
He Is a Person of Faith
Johnson was elected in 2016 to represent Louisiana’s Fourth District, taking office in January the next year. He is in his fourth term in office and is the shortest-tenured representative to be elected speaker in more than 140 years. Typically, the speakership goes to a representative who has been in the House for a longer time -- sometimes one or two decades.
Johnson, a Christian, is a member of Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, La., according to Baptist Press.
“Mike is the real deal, and God’s hand is all over him and his family,” Cypress Baptist senior pastor John Fream told Baptist Press. “I am so excited and hopeful for our nation with this great man of God leading. Mike loves his church, his country, his family, and his Lord.”
In his first speech, Johnson referenced his faith.
“I believe that Scripture and the Bible are very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you,” Johnson said. “... I believe each one of us has a huge responsibility today to use the gifts that God has given us to serve the extraordinary people of this great country, and they deserve it.”
He Formerly Served as an SBC Entity Trustee
From 2004 to 2012, Johnson served as a trustee for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the denomination’s public policy arm.
“Leading Congress is never an easy task, but it is especially challenging given how fractured the U.S. House of Representatives is at this moment,” Brent Leatherwood, ERLC president, told Baptist Press. “Mike Johnson, a name familiar to many Southern Baptists, has been tapped to lead the chamber, and I want to offer my personal congratulations to him.”
He Formerly Was an Attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom
Prior to serving in the U.S. House and the Louisiana House, Johnson was an attorney and was allied with Alliance Defending Freedom (then the Alliance Defense Fund), a legal organization that supports “religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights,” according to its website.
In 2010, for example, he penned a letter to mayors across the country, assuring them that they could take part in the National Day of Prayer without violating the U.S. Constitution.
“Public officials should be able to participate in public prayer activities just as America’s founders did, and a recent federal judge’s ruling does not prevent America’s cities from lawfully observing the National Day of Prayer on May 6,” Johnson wrote in his 2010 letter.
His website says he “spent nearly 20 years successfully litigating high profile constitutional law cases in district and appellate courts nationwide and is widely recognized as a leading defender of the right to life, religious liberty, free speech, the Second Amendment and free market principles.”
He Is a Solid Social Conservative
Johnson consistently receives high scores -- if not perfect scores -- from the nation’s leading social conservative organizations. For instance, for the current Congress, Johnson has a rating of 100 percent from the Family Research Council Action, which graded representatives on issues such as abortion, parental rights, and gender.
He has a grade of 100 percent on the National Right to Life’s scorecard for the current Congress.
He Grew Up in Louisiana
Johnson was born in Shreveport in 1972 and went to Louisiana State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree and law degree.
His official bio describes him as the “eldest son of a Shreveport firefighter who was critically burned and disabled in the line of duty.” He learned early in life the “values of hard work, honor, and sacrifice,” the bio says.
He and his wife, Kelly, a licensed pastoral counselor, have four children.
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Win McNamee / Staff
Video Courtesy: AP via YouTube
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
