Closing summary
Washington is adjusting to the new reality presented by Mike Johnson’s ascension to the speaker’s podium in the House of Representatives. The Louisiana lawmaker is a staunch but low-profile conservative who wants abortion banned, doubts the scientific consensus regarding climate change and has promoted Donald Trump’s baseless fraud claims over the 2020 election. But as much as they are likely to seize on those positions next year to argue Republicans are too extreme to govern, Democrats must first work with Johnson and his party on legislative business. In remarks on the Senate floor, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged the new speaker to embrace bipartisanship and avoid “the Maga road”.
Here’s what else happened today:
Federal prosecutors accused Donald Trump of threatening Mark Meadows, his former White House chief of staff who spoke to them about the ex-president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Joe Biden and Johnson met at the White House to discuss the president’s request for more aid to Israel and Ukraine.
A federal judge ordered Georgia’s Republican-dominated legislature to draw new congressional maps with another majority Black district, potentially offering Democrats an opportunity to gain a seat in the US House.
The president cheered better-than-expected economic growth data that undercut forecasts of a looming US recession, and warned Republicans against sparking a government shutdown.
Patrick McHenry dished on what it was like to be acting speaker of the House for three weeks.
It’s still too soon to say what kind of speaker of the House Mike Johnson will be, but the Guardian’s Carter Sherman reports all signs point to him acting zealously in trying to roll back abortion access:
The day after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June last year, Mike Johnson of Louisiana celebrated his home state’s new penalties for abortion providers. “The right to life has now been RESTORED!” the Republican crowed on X, formerly known as Twitter, on 25 June. “Perform an abortion and get imprisoned at hard labor for 1-10 yrs & fined $10K-$100K.”
Opposition to abortion is virtually a job requirement for Republicans these days. But Johnson, the newly minted speaker of the House, is a committed abortion opponent even by the standards of his fellow conservative colleagues.
Johnson ascended to the speakership after the sudden ouster of Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, and weeks of tumult in the House. A member of the House since 2016, Johnson is a loyal supporter of Donald Trump – to the point that he served on Trump’s legal defense team during Trump’s first impeachment – and a social conservative fueled by his evangelical Christian faith.
And, at a time when many Republicans in Congress are trying to quietly ignore abortion, wary of the backlash from their constituents over proliferating abortion bans, Johnson has continued to champion an array of anti-abortion bills.
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson meets Biden at White House on Ukraine, Israel aid
At her briefing today, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden had invited Mike Johnson to meet shortly after he won election as House speaker last night.
She said the Louisiana Republican was with the president for “a bipartisan briefing with leadership and relevant committee chairs and ranking members on the president’s supplemental national security package”.
In a primetime television address from the Oval Office last week, Biden called on Congress to approve billions of dollars in aid to Israel and Ukraine. While the former is a popular cause with both parties, a growing number of Republicans is against further funding Kyiv’s defense against the Russian invasion. Here’s more on that:
We are learning more about Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House who Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre just said is currently attending a meeting at the White House. As the Guardian’s Robert Tait reports, he has a history of channeling taxpayer funding to conservative Christian causes:
Mike Johnson, the newly-elected Republican speaker of the US House, won taxpayer funding for a Noah’s Ark amusement park while working as a lawyer, in a graphic illustration of his uncompromising rightwing Christian beliefs.
Working for Freedom Guard, a non-profit proclaiming a commitment to defending religious liberty, Johnson was hired by Answers in Genesis, a creationist ministry, in 2015, after the state of Kentucky rescinded an offer of tourism tax incentives for the project in Williamstown, citing discrimination against non-Christian believers.
The state retracted an offer of tax breaks after the then-governor, Steve Beshear, said the ministry reneged on a commitment to refrain from hiring based on religious belief.
“It has become clear that they do intend to use religious beliefs as a litmus test for hiring decisions,” Beshear said.
Johnson, who would win a seat in Congress from Louisiana in 2016, was among a team of attorneys engaged to press a federal lawsuit described by the Answers in Genesis president and chief executive, Ken Ham, as involving “freedom of religion, free exercise of religion, freedom of speech in this great nation of America”.
Johnson accused the state of “viewpoint discrimination”, adding: “They have decided to exclude this organisation from a tax rebate programme that’s offered to all applications across the state.”
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell on the news that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had spoken to special counsel Jack Smith as part of their investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election:
Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows testified to a federal grand jury earlier this year about efforts by the former president to overturn the 2020 election results pursuant to a court order that granted him limited immunity, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The immunity – which forces witnesses to testify on the promise that they will not be charged on their statements or information derived from their statements – came after a legal battle in March with special counsel prosecutors, who had subpoenaed Meadows.
Trump’s lawyers attempted to block Meadows’ testimony partially on executive privilege grounds. However, the outgoing chief US district judge Beryl Howell ruled that executive privilege was inapplicable and compelled Meadows to appear before the grand jury in Washington, the people said.
The precise details of what happened next are unclear, but prosecutors sought and received an order from the incoming chief judge James Boasberg granting limited-use immunity to Meadows to overcome his concerns about self-incrimination, the people familiar with the matter said.
That Meadows testified pursuant to a court order suggests prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith were determined to learn what information he was afraid to share because of self-incrimination concerns – but it does not mean he became a cooperator.
Special counsel accuses Trump of threatening ex-chief of staff who testified in election case - report
Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, accused the former president of threatening his former chief of staff after he spoke to investigators, ABC News reports.
Smith’s team cited posts Trump made on Truth Social after reports emerged that Mark Meadows, his chief of staff in the final months of his presidency, spoke to investigators about his attempts to stop Joe Biden’s election victory.
Trump’s comments “send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case,” Smith’s team wrote in a Wednesday filing.
Here’s more from ABC:
In a filing Wednesday night to the judge presiding over Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, Smith’s team said Trump’s “harmful” post on Truth Social was trying to “send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case.”
Smith’s team argued to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan that the alleged threat is just one more example of why a limited gag order in the case is needed as soon as possible.
Chutkan had issued such a gag order early last week but then temporarily suspended it after the former president’s legal team appealed the judge’s order to a higher court.
…
In their filing Wednesday, Smith’s team argued that Trump is now trying to “use external influences to distort the trial in his favor,” and that “These actions, particularly when directed against witnesses and trial participants, pose a grave threat to the very notion of a fair trial based on the facts and the law.”
Trump has a “long and well-documented history of using his public platform to target disparaging and inflammatory comments at perceived adversaries,” and “When the defendant does so, harassment, threats, and intimidation foreseeably and predictably follow,” Smith’s team wrote.
Sam Levine, our dedicated voting rights reporter, has more on the federal ruling today which says Georgia Republicans must redraw congressional and state legislative maps to give Black voters a fair shot at electing the candidate of their choice, a decision that could result in an additional Democratic seat in Congress.
When Georgia Republicans drew the state’s 14 congressional districts last year, they placed the lines in such a way that they weakened the influence of Black voters in the west metro-Atlanta area, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, US district judge Steve Jones ruled on Thursday.
Jones gave Georgia lawmakers until 8 December to draw an additional majority-Black district in the west metro-Atlanta area, and said the court would draw a map if the legislature could not come up with a new plan by then.
Georgia is likely to appeal the ruling and to try and drag out the redrawing process as long as possible. A lengthy legal dispute is to the state’s advantage because federal courts have been hesitant to intervene when elections are close.
Republicans currently have a 9-5 advantage in Georgia’s congressional delegation. Since voting in the south of the US is often racially polarized, any district that gives Black voters a chance to elect the candidate of their choosing is likely to favor Democrats.
Republicans also have a 102-78 advantage in the state House of Representatives, where Jones ordered the addition of five majority-Black seats. They also have 33-23 advantage in the state senate, where Jones ordered two additional majority-Black seats.
Georgia gained an additional seat in Congress last year after significant population growth over the last decade. Almost all of that growth was due to a surging minority population in the state, Jones noted in a 516-page opinion, but the number of majority-Black congressional and legislative districts remained the same. Jones wrote:
“The court reiterates that Georgia has made great strides since 1965 towards equality in voting. However, the evidence before this court shows that Georgia has not reached the point where the political process has equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone.”
The ruling is the latest in a series from federal courts in recent months finding that Republicans, who dominate state legislatures in the south and control the redistricting process, discriminated against Black voters when they drew district lines.
Judges have also ordered Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana to reconfigure their maps to add districts that give Black voters adequate power. There is also ongoing litigation in South Carolina and Florida claiming district lines illegally minimize the influence of Black voters.
Our columnist Margaret Sullivan thinks the installation of the Republican Mike Johnson as House speaker bodes ill not just for Democrats – but perhaps for democracy, in the sense of the prospects of a more peaceful election next year than in 2020, when the Louisianan was at Donald Trump’s side as he attempted to cling onto power…
The process was appalling, and the outcome even more so, as Republicans in the House of Representatives finally found someone they could more or less agree on.
That agreement, though, may be more accurately described as simple exhaustion after three weeks of embarrassing misfires.
And who is it they have managed to elect speaker of the US House, the person in line to lead the nation just after the president and vice-president?
It’s Mike Johnson of Louisiana who, as one example of his profound unsuitability, brags that he doesn’t believe that human beings cause the climate crisis, though his home state has been ravaged by it. He is against abortion, voted against aid to Ukraine and stridently opposes LGBTQ+ rights.
Perhaps most notably, Johnson had a leading role in trying to overturn he 2020 election.
That means that the official second in line to the presidency “violated his oath to the constitution and tried to disenfranchise four states”, as the writer Marcy Wheeler neatly put it.
Johnson certainly has his Trumpian bona fides in order. In 2020, he helped lead a legal effort to reverse the results of the election in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and he hawked Trump’s lies that the election had been rigged.
Whatever his shortcomings, we know that Johnson excels at one thing: pleasing Donald Trump, the autocrat wannabe and Republican party leader who loves nothing more than a good yes man.
Read on…
Before the new Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, won election to Congress in 2016, he worked as an attorney for rightwing Christian groups. Here, Robert Tait reports on events in Kentucky in 2015, when Johnson successfully fought the corner of builders of a Noah’s Ark-themed amusement park, who were seeking government support despite the separation of church and state outlined in the US consitution…
Mike Johnson, the newly-elected Republican speaker of the US House, won taxpayer funding for a Noah’s Ark amusement park while working as a lawyer, in a graphic illustration of his uncompromising rightwing Christian beliefs.
Working for Freedom Guard, a nonprofit proclaiming a commitment to defending religious liberty, Johnson was hired by Answers in Genesis, a creationist ministry, in 2015, after the state of Kentucky rescinded an offer of tourism tax incentives for the project in Williamstown, citing discrimination against non-Christian believers.
The state retracted an offer of tax breaks after the-then governor, Steve Beshear, said the ministry reneged on a commitment to refrain from hiring based on religious belief.
“It has become clear that they do intend to use religious beliefs as a litmus test for hiring decisions,” Beshear said.
Johnson, who would win a seat in Congress from Louisiana in 2016, was among a team of attorneys engaged to press a federal lawsuit described by the Answers in Genesis president and chief executive, Ken Ham, as involving “freedom of religion, free exercise of religion, freedom of speech in this great nation of America”.
Here’s more on Johnson’s own beliefs and previous work…
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The day so far
Washington is adjusting to the new reality presented by Mike Johnson’s ascension to the speaker’s podium in the House of Representatives. The Louisiana lawmaker is a staunch but low-profile conservative who wants abortion banned, doubts the scientific consensus regarding climate change and has promoted Donald Trump’s baseless fraud claims over the 2020 election. But as much as they are likely to seize on those positions next year to argue Republicans are too extreme to govern, Democrats also have to work with Johnson and his party on legislative business. In remarks on the Senate floor, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged the new speaker to embrace bipartisanship and avoid “the Maga road”.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Joe Biden cheered better-than-expected economic growth data that undercut forecasts of a looming US recession, and warned Republicans against sparking a government shutdown.
A federal judge ordered Georgia’s Republican-dominated legislature to draw new congressional maps with another majority Black district, potentially offering Democrats an opportunity to gain a seat in the US House.
Patrick McHenry dished on what it was like to be acting speaker of the House for three weeks.
Back in the House, Patrick McHenry, who was the acting speaker for three weeks during the Republican civil war over finding a replacement for Kevin McCarthy, shared some details of his brief term leading the chamber.
The Associated Press reports that McHenry was given advance notice that McCarthy had named him as a temporary replacement before the then speaker was removed from office:
👀👀New: Former Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry tells us that he was first alerted that he was first on McCarthy’s list as temporary replacement two weeks (!!) before Gaetz filed his resolution to oust McCarthy. He faced immense pressure from GOP to take on more powers in the 3…
— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) October 26, 2023
McHenry also made a point of noting his continued ill feelings towards those who removed McCarthy:
Patrick McHenry telling us what he really thinks: calls the last month “perhaps the dumbest set of politics or decision making a majority party in this institution can make”
— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) October 26, 2023
Updated
Judge orders Georgia to draw another majority-Black congressional district, in potential boost for Democrats
A federal judge has ordered Georgia’s Republican-dominated legislature to draw another majority-Black congressional district, arguing that the state’s current lines violate the Voting Rights Act.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports the legislature will have to convene for a special session to make a new map, which could present Democrats an opportunity to pick up another House seat from the state, since African American voters tend to support the party:
Just in: A federal judge has struck down Georgia’s congressional and legislative maps, ruling that they violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Georgia lawmakers have until Dec. 8 to draw new lines, setting up a special legislative session. #gapol pic.twitter.com/aK5Hkoh8C5
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) October 26, 2023
The ruling is a victory for Democrats and their allies who challenged the maps, contending they illegally diluted the voting power of Black Georgians. And some Democrats were already lining up to run in GOP-leaning districts that could be redrawn. #gapol https://t.co/vLZo1FoP8k
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) October 26, 2023
The decision could result in the election of additional Black representatives next year, with Democrats hoping to gain a seat in the U.S. House, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority, @markniesse reports. #gapol https://t.co/Xa6JGxJRTG
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) October 26, 2023
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Meanwhile, Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman insisted he was not trying to disrupt Congress last month when he pulled a Capitol complex fire alarm amid fervent negotiations aimed at passing a government spending bill:
“They weaponize any opportunity they can ... just so we don’t focus on their own dysfunction.”
— The Recount (@therecount) October 26, 2023
— As he pleads guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm at the Capitol last month, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) reacts to Republicans comparing him to a Jan. 6 insurrectionist pic.twitter.com/kMe9oDMIpk
The New York lawmaker is moving to resolve the issue today by entering a not guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge and paying a fine. Here’s more on that:
Updated
Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene moves to censure progressive Rashida Tlaib for alleged antisemitism
Marjorie Taylore Greene, one of the most outspoken far-right Republicans in the House, has proposed a resolution to censure Democrat Rashida Tlaib on claims of antisemitism.
The Michigan lawmaker is one of two Muslims in the House and has been outspoken against Israel’s conduct in its bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip following the 7 October terrorist attack. Greene’s censure resolution makes a number of far-fetched and dubious claims, including that Tlaib engaged in “insurrection” earlier this month when protesters entered a House office building and staged a noisy protest that ended with many arrests.
Here’s Greene on the House floor announcing the censure resolution:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI): "A resolution censuring representative Rashida Tlaib for anti-Semitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organization and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol complex." pic.twitter.com/Cp0MH9XXke
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 26, 2023
Politico managed to get their hands on a copy of the resolution, which you can read below:
Here’s the resolution pic.twitter.com/8fDziixzkA
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 26, 2023
Biden condemns Maine mass shooting, calls for GOP to support ban on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines
Joe Biden has released a statement calling yesterday’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that left 18 people dead “senseless and tragic”, and urging Republicans to support tightening access to firearms.
“Once again, our nation is in mourning after yet another senseless and tragic mass shooting. Today, Jill and I are praying for the Americans who’ve lost their lives, for those still in critical care, and for the families, survivors and community members enduring shock and grief,” the president said.
“Today, in the wake of yet another tragedy, I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars – physical and mental – of this latest attack.”
For more on this developing story, follow our live blog:
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Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says Johnson ‘will fail’ as speaker if he shuns bipartisanship
In remarks on the Senate floor, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer urged the newly elected Republican House speaker to embrace bipartisanship, and warned him against tumbling down “the Maga road”:
“If Speaker Johnson lives up to the label that Congressman Gaetz has given him, ‘MAGA Mike,’ he will fail as the previous Speakers have… I look forward to working constructively…and congratulate him on his election.”
— The Recount (@therecount) October 26, 2023
— Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the Senate floor pic.twitter.com/sAZTR3vuw1
Anything the GOP-dominated House passes must be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate, and vice versa – including legislation to fund the government beyond 17 November. That is expected to be Congress’s top priority in the weeks to come.
Updated
On the topic of government shutdowns, there appears to be a resolution at hand to address the strange incident of Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman pulling a fire alarm last month during a tense moment in spending negotiations, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:
The Democratic New York congressman Jamaal Bowman said he would plead guilty to a misdemeanour charge and pay a fine for pulling a fire alarm in a congressional building as a crucial vote neared last month.
In a statement, Bowman said: “I’m thankful for the quick resolution from the District of Columbia attorney general’s office on this issue and grateful that the United States Capitol police general counsel’s office agreed I did not obstruct nor intend to obstruct any House vote of proceedings.
“I am responsible for activating a fire alarm, I will be paying the fine issued, and look forward to these charges ultimately being dropped.”
On Saturday, 30 September, Bowman was captured on camera pulling the alarm in the Cannon office building as a vote on a stopgap funding measure, which ultimately staved off a government shutdown, drew near.
Republicans accused him of seeking to delay the vote. He denied it.
He said: “Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today was not open. I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologise for any confusion this caused.”
Updated
Here’s more from Reuters on today’s economic growth data. Among the conclusions that can be drawn from it is that the United States is not in a recession, despite the predictions of some economists as well as Joe Biden’s Republican adversaries:
The US economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years in the third quarter as higher wages from a tight labor market helped to power consumer spending, again defying dire warnings of a recession that have lingered since 2022.
Gross domestic product increased at a 4.9% annualized rate last quarter, the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2021, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its advance estimate of third-quarter GDP growth. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 4.3% rate.
Estimates ranged from as low as a 2.5% rate to as high as a 6.0% pace, a wide margin reflecting that some of the input data, including September durable goods orders, goods trade deficit, wholesale and retail inventory numbers were published at the same time as the GDP report.
The economy grew at a 2.1% pace in the April-June quarter and is expanding at a rate well above what Fed officials regard as the non-inflationary growth rate of around 1.8%.
While the robust growth pace notched last quarter is unlikely sustainable, it was testament to the economy’s resilience despite aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Growth could slow in the fourth quarter because of the United Auto Workers strikes and the resumption of student loan repayments by millions of Americans.
Biden hails economic growth, warns Republicans against government shutdown
In a just-released statement, Joe Biden cheered today’s commerce department data showing the US economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years in the third quarter, while warning Republicans against shutting down the government.
“I always say it is a mistake to bet against the American people, and just today we learned the economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter. I never believed we would need a recession to bring inflation down – and today we saw again that the American economy continues to grow even as inflation has come down. It is a testament to the resilience of American consumers and American workers, supported by Bidenomics – my plan to grow the economy by growing the middle class,” the president said, using the term his administration coined to describe his economic policies.
Congress is in the midst of a protracted fight over government spending, which has returned as the biggest issue on lawmakers’ plates after the House yesterday elected Mike Johnson speaker, allowing the lower chamber to pass legislation again. The federal government will exhaust its ability to spend money after 17 November, at which point it will have to halt or dramatically curtail services. In his statement, Biden warned that could have a disastrous effect on the economy.
“I hope Republicans in Congress will join me in working to build on this progress, rather than putting our economy at risk with reckless threats of a shutdown or proposals to cut taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, while slashing programs that are essential for hard-working families and seniors,” the president said.
Updated
Or take it from Donald Trump himself.
Here’s the former president yesterday taking credit for getting Mike Johnson elected as speaker of the House. Trump was speaking outside his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York City:
Donald Trump congratulates Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and takes credit for him being elected:
— The Recount (@therecount) October 25, 2023
“We were very happy to help … At this time yesterday, nobody was thinking of Mike, and then we put out the word and now he's the Speaker of the House.” pic.twitter.com/ytSQMNGP6l
Just the day prior, Republicans had nominated their third-highest-ranking lawmaker in the House, Tom Emmer, for the leadership post, only to see him quickly drop out of contention, in part due to opposition from Trump.
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Affirmation of Mike Johnson’s Trumpian bona fides came yesterday from none other than Matt Gaetz, the rightwing lawmaker who successfully ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s post earlier this month, kicking off three weeks of crisis in the House. Here’s what Gaetz had to say about the chamber’s new leader, from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly:
Mike Johnson’s ascent to be speaker of the US House of Representatives proves Donald Trump dominates the Republican party and “Maga is ascendant”, the Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said, using an acronym for Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America great again”.
“The swamp is on the run, Maga is ascendant and if you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to Maga Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement, and where the power of the Republican party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention,” Gaetz told the former Trump campaign chair and White House strategist Steve Bannon on his podcast on Wednesday.
Gaetz precipitated three weeks of leaderless chaos inside the Republican party, and therefore the House, when he triggered the removal of McCarthy this month. Seven other Republicans voted to make McCarthy the first speaker ever ejected by his own party but Gaetz orchestrated the move.
Updated
At one point in the chaotic three weeks it took Republicans to elect a new speaker of the House, the party nominated conservative firebrand Jim Jordan for the post, only to see him lose the election and drop out after more lawmakers objected to his embrace of rightwing causes. But as the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and Sam Levine made clear yesterday, Mike Johnson believes in many of the same things – and now, he’s the leader of the chamber. Here’s more on what they found:
Mike Johnson’s emergence as the new speaker of the US House of Representatives has earned the relatively little-known Louisiana Republican a turn in the national spotlight.
That spotlight has illuminated positions and remarks many deem extreme.
He tried to overturn the 2020 election
In the modern Republican party, supporting Donald Trump’s lie about the role of voter fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden is hardly an outlandish position. But Johnson took it further.
After the election, he voiced support for Trump’s conspiracy theory that voting machines were rigged. Later, he was one of 147 Republicans to object to results in key states, even after a pro-Trump mob attacked Congress on 6 January 2021, a riot now linked to nine deaths and hundreds of convictions.
Johnson also authored an amicus brief filed to the supreme court in a case in which Texas sought to have swing-state results thrown out. According to the New York Times, a House Republican lawyer said Johnson’s brief was unconstitutional. Nonetheless, he persuaded 125 colleagues to sign it, using tactics some thought heavy-handed.
The supreme court refused to take the case. On Tuesday, Johnson refused to take a question about his work on Trump’s behalf – smiling as fellow Republicans booed and jeered the reporter.
He was a spokesperson for a ‘hate group’
Before entering politics, Johnson worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom – designated a hate group by the Southern Law Poverty Center, which tracks US extremists.
According to the SPLC, the ADF has “supported the recriminalisation of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ+ adults in the US and criminalisation abroad; defended state-sanctioned sterilisation of trans people abroad; contended that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to engage in paedophilia; and claimed that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society”.
On Wednesday, the ADF senior counsel, Jeremy Tedesco, denied the organisation was a hate group and attacked the SPLC designation as partisan.
“The truth is, Alliance Defending Freedom is among the largest and most effective legal advocacy organizations dedicated to protecting the religious freedom and free speech rights of all Americans,” he said.
He opposes LGBTQ+ rights
In state politics and at the national level, Johnson has worked to claw back gains made by LGBTQ+ Americans in their fight for equality.
In 2016, as he ran for Congress, he told the Louisiana Baptist Message he had “been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they’ve been under assault”. He has since led efforts for a national “don’t say gay” bill, regarding the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues in schools, and is also opposed to gender-affirming care for children.
On Wednesday, the Rev Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said: “Johnson has made a career out of attacking the LGBTQ+ community at every turn. His positions are out of touch with the clear majority support for LGBTQ+ equality in our country. His new leadership role is just further proof of the dangerous priorities of the GOP and the critical stakes for our democracy – and for LGBTQ+ Americans – in 2024.”
Updated
Democrats gear up to put House speaker Johnson’s rightwing leaning at center of 2024 campaign
Good morning, US politics blog readers. With Mike Johnson’s election as speaker of the House of Representatives yesterday, the chamber can finally get back to work – and so can the Democratic strategists who are sure to use his rightwing beliefs as evidence that the GOP is too extreme to rule. The Louisiana lawmaker was an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s attempt to disrupt his 2020 election loss, opposes abortions and LGBTQ+ rights, and rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. The GOP has only a four-seat majority in the chamber, and Democrats are keen to topple some of the 18 Republicans representing districts Joe Biden won in 2020 and retake the majority next year – a campaign Johnson seems to be at the center of.
One of the first orders of business before Johnson will be finding agreement on a measure to fund the government beyond mid-November, when its current authorization expires. He’ll have to choose between insisting on deep cuts in spending that could alienate voters and potentially his own fellow lawmakers, or a more moderate proposal meant to keep the lights on while longer-term spending is negotiated. That’s a story that will play out in the weeks to come, but one thing is assured: Democrats will be watching.
Here’s what else is happening today:
Joe Biden has no public events planned today, after staying up late yesterday for a state dinner with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese. The usual press briefing takes place at 1pm eastern time.
A manhunt is under way in Maine after a gunman killed 16 people. Follow our live blog for the latest on this developing story.
Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House, will address first-year students at Georgetown Law School this afternoon – and perhaps weigh in on Johnson’s emergence.
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