Republicans finally elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to become the next House speaker, ending weeks of bitter infighting and chaos over the top position.
Johnson, 51, is a fairly obscure four-term congressman from Louisiana who seems not to elicit the same personal grievances that tanked the prior speaker bids of Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).
Johnson is well-liked within the conference, very conservative, and, in a crucial test for the MAGA crowd, he supported a legal strategy to throw out the 2020 election based on no evidence of widespread fraud.
Johnson, a former lawyer, led an amicus brief signed by over 100 Republican members of Congress backing a flawed Texas lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election. He also played a key role in crafting the rationale that many of his GOP colleagues used in justifying their votes to throw out the 2020 election results ― even just hours after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
“In formal statements justifying their votes, about three-quarters relied on the arguments of a low-profile Louisiana congressman, Representative Mike Johnson, the most important architect of the Electoral College objections,” according to The New York Times.
When ABC News reporter Rachel Scott tried to ask Johnson about his support for overturning the 2020 election on Tuesday after the GOP voted to nominate him for speaker, his colleagues booed and shut her down. “Shut up,” yelled Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).
“We are not doing any policy tonight,” Johnson said, dodging the question.
There’s a reason why House Republicans are sensitive about the issue of the 2020 election: It caused problems for speaker nominees, particularly Emmer.
Emmer broke with his party when he voted to certify the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021 ― even though he, too, backed the Texas lawsuit seeking to throw out the election results. Donald Trump and his allies viewed Emmer as a squish, and the former president ended his short-lived speaker bid on Tuesday when he called him “totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters” and claimed he “never respected” his endorsements “or the breadth and scope of MAGA.”
House Republicans unanimously elected Johnson speaker on Wednesday shortly after Trump announced his endorsement, helping him seal the deal.
“My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST! LOVE, DJT,” the 2024 GOP candidate wrote on his social media website Truth Social.
Johnson’s role in organizing legal strategies to throw out the 2020 election didn’t seem to bother most Republicans who previously expressed concerns about Trump and his election denialism. In essence, they argued it was time to move on.
“If all we do is focus on flaws, we never move forward ... at some point, you’ve gotta move ahead,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, told HuffPost on Wednesday.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who opposed Jordan’s speaker bid due to his involvement in Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election, also backed Johnson on Wednesday.
He called Johnson’s amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to throw out the 2020 election results “fundamentally different than trying to overturn something on the floor.”
“What he did was he went to the courts. That’s what the courts are set up for. It is absolutely appropriate,” Buck told The Hill.