An editorial from Mike Johnson’s home state newspaper wishes him well in his new post as House Speaker but notes that the editorial’s readers will not be able to forget his words and actions after the 2020 presidential election.
Johnson, a member of Congress, received the gavel after seemingly overnight mobilizing Republican support. The 22-day stalemate that ensued after Kevin McCarthy’s removal was broken by his election on Wednesday.
After Representatives Tom Emmer, Jim Jordan, and Steve Scalise all failed, the little-known conservative from Louisiana was successful.
According to an editorial in The Advocate, the state’s most widely read newspaper, House Speaker Johnson plotted to overturn the “legitimate and incontestable results” of the 2020 presidential election, which is one of the reasons that former President Donald Trump is a fan of Johnson.
Johnson caught the attention of UL Monroe political science professor Pearson Cross when he quickly rose from the ranks of the Louisiana legislature to become the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus in the House.
According to Cross, Johnson’s legacy will include his acts after Trump’s loss, such as his votes on January 6, 2021, not to certify the election of President Joe Biden.
Later, he helped the Texas government file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court to overturn votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia.
In it, they accuse the states of using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to disregard federal and state election regulations to manipulate the election outcome on November 3. The letter has the support of 125 additional House members.
On January 6, 2021, Johnson was one of 147 Republican congressmen who voted against Joe Biden’s bid to certify election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania from 2020. Members of Congress were eight senators and 139 representatives. He was one of the 120 people who challenged the results in both states.
He later voted against a commission to investigate the storming of the Capitol on January 6, though he has since become more vocal in admonishing the violence seen that day.
Cross stated that this is a byline that will follow him for the rest of his life.
