Mike Johnson is an American lawyer and politician currently serving as the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2023. As a Republican, he has represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district in the House since 2017, marking his fifth term in Congress.
On January 30, 1972, James Michael Johnson was born. He is an American lawyer and politician.
In 1984, Johnson's father, Pat, was severely injured in a Shreveport fire that also resulted in the death of a fellow firefighter.
In 1995, Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Louisiana State University, becoming the first in his family to graduate from college.
In 1998, Johnson graduated from Louisiana State's Paul M. Hebert Law Center with a Juris Doctor degree.
On May 1, 1999, Mike Johnson married Kelly Renee Lary. Their primary residence is in Benton, Louisiana.
In 2002, Johnson became an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, now known as Alliance Defending Freedom.
In 2003, Johnson opposed the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which decriminalized private sexual conduct between consenting adults. His employer, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), supported maintaining criminalization.
In 2003, Johnson wrote that homosexuals do not meet the criteria for a suspect class and are capable of changing their lifestyles, and he expressed concern that legalizing same-sex marriage could jeopardize the country's democratic system.
In 2004, Johnson began his service on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In 2004, Johnson defended Louisiana Amendment 1, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, against legal challenges.
In 2005, Johnson appeared on ABC's Good Morning America to promote covenant marriages, stating, "I'm a big proponent of marriage and fidelity and all the things that go with it".
In 2005, Johnson campaigned against GLSEN's annual anti-bullying Day of Silence, telling NBC News "that's cloaking their real message—that homosexuality is good for society".
During a 2008 radio interview, Johnson suggested that homosexuality contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire.
In August 2010, Johnson was named the "founding dean" of the newly established Pressler School of Law at Louisiana College.
In 2010, Johnson ended his time as an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund.
In August 2012, Johnson resigned from his position at the Pressler School of Law at Louisiana College after the law school never opened.
In 2012, Johnson ended his service on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In 2012, Johnson ended his service on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In April 2015, Johnson proposed the Marriage and Conscience Act in Louisiana. It was met with both support and criticism.
On May 19, 2015, the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee voted to table the Marriage and Conscience Act, effectively ending its chances to become law.
From roughly 2015, Johnson was an occasional guest host of Tony Perkins's radio talk show Washington Watch.
In 2015, Johnson blamed abortions and the "breakup [of] the nuclear family" for school shootings, asserting that devaluing life leads to such incidents. In 2015, he also stated that Donald Trump ... lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House.
In 2015, Johnson founded Freedom Guard, a nonprofit law firm specializing in religious liberty litigation, and served as its chief counsel. He also represented Ark Encounter in a lawsuit against Kentucky officials regarding tax breaks.
In 2015, Johnson ran unopposed for the 8th District seat of the Louisiana House of Representatives.
In 2015, Johnson was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives, marking the beginning of his political career.
In 2015, Johnson wrote on Facebook that "Donald Trump ... lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House", adding that Trump "is a hot head by nature" and lacks the demeanor to be President.
In 2015, Mike Johnson and his then 13-year-old daughter Hannah were featured attending a purity ball in a German television story about the purity movement.
On February 10, 2016, Johnson announced his candidacy for the 4th congressional district seat.
In September 2016, Johnson summarized his legal career as "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".
In 2016, Johnson delivered a sermon linking the teaching of evolution to mass shootings, asserting that it promotes a lack of moral values and devalues human life.
In 2016, Johnson led an anti-abortion "Life March" in Shreveport-Bossier City.
In 2016, Johnson was a strong proponent of amending the United States Constitution at a national convention, advocating for a "Convention of States".
In 2016, Johnson was elected to represent Louisiana's 4th congressional district in Congress.
In 2016, Mike Johnson opposed the expansion of medical cannabis in Louisiana, citing the American Epilepsy Society's studies that cannabis can worsen some conditions, specifically epilepsy, and cause "severe dystonic reactions and other movement disorders, developmental regression, intractable vomiting, and worsening seizures" in children with epilepsy.
On January 3, 2017, Johnson was sworn into office as a member of Congress.
In December 2017, Johnson voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and stated that it would dramatically strengthen the U.S. economy.
During a town hall in 2017, Johnson said that he believed that Earth's climate was changing, but questioned the scientific consensus that humans cause climate change.
In 2017, James Michael Johnson began representing Louisiana's 4th congressional district.
In 2017, Johnson left the Louisiana House of Representatives after being elected to Congress.
In 2017, Johnson supported President Trump's executive order to prohibit immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, citing the need to protect the homeland.
In 2017, Johnson voted in favor of the American Health Care Act, which aimed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In a 2017 House Judiciary Committee meeting, Johnson argued that Roe v. Wade made it necessary to cut social programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid because abortion reduced the labor force.
Since 2017, Johnson and Trump are considered close allies and have worked closely together. Trump has publicly praised Johnson's efforts and performance.
In April 2018, Mike Johnson joined Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and actor Kirk Cameron to argue for student-led school prayer and religious expression in public schools under the First Amendment.
In 2018, Johnson became an adjunct professor teaching online courses at Liberty University's Helms School of Government.
In 2018, Johnson stated that entitlement reform was his "number one priority," advocating for immediate changes to maintain their long-term solvency.
In 2018, Johnson won a second term in the House of Representatives.
From 2019, Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee.
In 2019, Johnson opposed the Raise the Wage Act, which aimed to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, labeling it as "job-crushing legislation".
In 2019, Johnson, as chair of the Republican Study Committee, spearheaded an effort to replace the ACA. The committee's plan included rescinding the ACA's Medicaid expansion.
In 2019, during Donald Trump's first impeachment, Johnson defended Trump, advising White House officials to disregard congressional subpoenas citing executive privilege. He also joined Trump's legal defense team for the Senate trial.
In 2019, during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, Johnson defended Trump, saying that Trump had "cooperated fully" with the investigation and "done nothing wrong".
In February 2020, Johnson visited Israel with the 12Tribe Films Foundation.
In early November 2020, after media outlets called the 2020 United States presidential election in favor of Joe Biden, Johnson said that he spoke to Trump twice, urging him to "exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans' trust in the fairness of our election system".
On November 17, 2020, Johnson said there was "a lot of merit" to allegations about voting machines being rigged with software by Dominion, linking it to Hugo Chávez's Venezuela. By October 2022, Johnson stated that he had never supported claims of massive fraud in the 2020 election.
In December 2020, Johnson led an effort in which 126 Republican U.S. representatives signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit contesting the 2020 presidential election results. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
In 2020, Johnson co-wrote a national security report that addressed China trade issues, advocating for sanctions against entities affiliated with the People's Liberation Army and for expanding trade with other countries to counter China.
In 2020, Johnson contested the results of the 2020 presidential election in court and on the House floor.
In 2020, Johnson secured a third term in the House of Representatives.
In 2020, Johnson was among 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
In January 2021, Johnson objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results, arguing that state officials had violated the Constitution by relaxing restrictions on mail-in voting or early voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic without consulting state legislatures.
During the January 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, Johnson objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania. He was called "the most important architect of the Electoral College objections" by The New York Times.
On May 19, 2021, Johnson and all seven other Republican House leaders in the 117th Congress voted against establishing a national commission to investigate the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
From 2021, Johnson served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference.
In 2021, Johnson co-sponsored bills attempting to ban abortion nationwide, such as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children From Late-Term Abortions Act, and the Heartbeat Protection Act of 2021.
In 2021, Johnson continued his opposition to the Raise the Wage Act, reiterating his stance against the bill.
Since March 2022, Mike Johnson and his wife have co-hosted the podcast Truth Be Told, discussing public affairs and other issues from a Christian perspective. On the podcast, Johnson stated that "the Word of God is, of course, the ultimate source of all truth", and attributed the success of the United States to its foundation upon a "religious statement of faith".
In April 2022, Johnson voted in favor of the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, showing support for Ukraine.
After the 2022 midterm elections, Representative Andy Biggs proposed Johnson as a possible compromise candidate for Speaker of the House.
In 2022, Johnson won reelection unopposed.
In 2022, Johnson wrote the foreword to Scott McKay's book, "The Revivalist Manifesto", later expressing disagreement with some of its content.
In 2022, Mike Johnson introduced the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, which aimed to prevent federally funded institutions from mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity. This bill has been compared to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act.
Until 2022, Johnson was an occasional guest host of Tony Perkins's radio talk show Washington Watch.
In January 2023, the House passed a resolution introduced by Johnson condemning "vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups, and churches", and affirmed the "sanctity of life".
In February 2023, Johnson voiced concerns about the use of over $100 billion in aid sent to Ukraine by American taxpayers, demanding transparency.
In July 2023, at a hearing on transgender youth, Mike Johnson spoke out against allowing children to receive gender-affirming care, emphasizing the importance of protecting children from abuse and physical harm. He has also co-sponsored legislation to criminalize providing opposite-sex hormones or gender-affirming surgeries to minors.
After Kevin McCarthy was removed from the position of speaker of the House on October 3, 2023, Representative Matt Gaetz floated Johnson's name as a potential replacement.
As of October 2023, Johnson had received $338,125 in donations from the oil and gas industry during his congressional career.
On October 25, 2023, Johnson was elected as the Speaker of the House, succeeding Kevin McCarthy.
On November 2, 2023, the House passed a bill supported by Johnson to give Israel $14.3 billion in aid.
In December 2023, Johnson stated that future aid to Ukraine would be conditional on the implementation of new border-security measures.
As of 2023, Johnson had "introduced legislation three times aimed at tightening the asylum system, including by raising the bar on undocumented immigrants to establish their claim of fear of persecution".
As of 2023, Mike Johnson had twice voted against the decriminalization of cannabis.
Before 2023, Johnson introduced two bills about China: one to ban former members of Congress from lobbying for communist entities and another to forbid foreign governments from funding litigation in U.S. courts.
In 2023, AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbyist organization, was Johnson's largest financial donor.
In 2023, Andrew Kaczynski of CNN reported on Johnson's history of using "harsh anti-gay language" during his time as an attorney for a socially conservative legal group in the mid-2000s. Johnson responded by saying he doesn't remember writing some of the editorials and that he was defending state marriage amendments.
In 2023, James Michael Johnson became the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
In 2023, Johnson became the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government.
In 2023, Johnson co-sponsored legislation that declared human life and personhood begin at conception, without exceptions for in-vitro fertilization or embryonic stem-cell research.
In 2023, Johnson's term as vice chair of the House Republican Conference ended.
On January 7, 2024, congressional appropriators reached an agreement on the topline spending levels for 2024, similar to a previous deal. Hardliners urged Johnson to abandon the deal, but he clarified that he had not. Conservatives also pushed for a full-year continuing resolution, leading to potential spending cuts under McCarthy's deal.
In January 2024, Johnson opposed a bipartisan Senate Republican-sponsored border security package that included aid for Ukraine and other U.S. allies. The bill subsequently failed to pass the Senate.
In January 2024, Johnson opposed a bipartisan, Senate Republican-backed border security and immigration bill, which also included funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. This bill did not pass the Senate. Johnson stated that he discussed immigration policy with Trump frequently during border negotiations.
On February 13, 2024, the House impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas by a 214–213 vote, with Johnson championing the impeachment resolution.
On March 6, 2024, the House passed a $459 billion "minibus" spending package with six appropriations bills. The rightmost faction of the Republican conference opposed the deal. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate Johnson's speakership, warning him about relying on Democratic votes.
On March 7, 2024, Johnson clarified that he does not support federal legislation to protect legal access to IVF, believing it is a state issue, while also stating that IVF "is a remarkable thing and something we ought to preserve and protect".
In April 2024, Johnson criticized pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. university campuses, expressing determination to ensure Congress addresses safety concerns for Jewish students.
In April 2024, Johnson introduced a legislative package providing aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine as separate bills. All bills passed with bipartisan support and were signed into law. The package also included a bill forcing TikTok to divest from ByteDance and the REPO for Ukrainians Act.
In April 2024, Johnson put forward a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine that didn't contain any border-related provisions, which passed in Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Biden.
On May 8, 2024, Greene introduced a motion to vacate Johnson's speakership, forcing a vote. The House voted to table the motion, allowing Johnson to remain speaker. Democrats supported Johnson due to his role in providing funding for the federal government and Ukraine.
In May 2024, Politico reported that Johnson had aligned himself with former President Trump, fortified his reputation, and successfully isolated his critics. Johnson is described as an authentic movement conservative, deft at handling his members, keeping his word, and operating in good faith with Democrats.
In May 2024, an effort to oust Johnson from the speakership failed with two-thirds of the House voting to keep him in office.
In May 2024, conservative columnist Marc Thiessen wrote in The Washington Post that "Johnson has gone from accidental House speaker to one of the most consequential House speakers in a generation" and that despite presiding over the smallest House majority in U.S. history, Johnson had become "one of the most effective speakers ever".
In May 2024, following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, Johnson stated that abortion policy was the purview of the states and that he would not try to pass a nationwide abortion ban.
In July 2024, Johnson promised to pass bills with tough policies on China, stating that China poses the greatest threat to global peace.
In July 2024, The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece titled "Mike Johnson, Leader of the Free World", noting that Johnson "laid down a marker for a GOP that rejects U.S. decline and retreat abroad" in a recent speech at the Hudson Institute. The article argues that he is pushing his party in the direction of Ronald Reagan.
In November 2024, Mike Johnson announced a new bathroom policy for the U.S. Capitol, stating that single-sex facilities are reserved for individuals of that biological sex, with unisex restrooms available throughout the Capitol. This policy was enacted shortly after the election of Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
In December 2024, Johnson spoke with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during a stopover in Hawaii.
In 2024, Johnson endorsed Donald Trump's campaign for president, and Trump endorsed Johnson, highlighting their close alliance since 2017.
In 2024, Johnson opposed a new warrant requirement for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), citing classified briefings that convinced him of its importance to national security, despite previous criticisms.
In 2024, Johnson won reelection with 262,821 votes, representing 86% of the total.
In the 2024 elections, Republicans maintained control of the House, flipped control of the U.S. Senate, and won the presidency, resulting in an undivided Republican government.
On January 3, 2025, the opening day of the 119th Congress, Johnson was reelected speaker on the first ballot. Every House Republican except Thomas Massie voted for Johnson.
In March 2025, Johnson criticized federal judges for issuing injunctions against the Trump administration's policies, calling it a "dangerous trend" that violates the separation of powers.
In May 2025, when asked about the Qatari jet N7478D, Johnson responded, "I'm going to leave it to the administration. They know much more about the details of that, OK? I'm just—it's not my lane."
In June 2025, Johnson supported President Trump's strikes on Iran, while also opposing "a bipartisan war powers resolution to prevent U.S. intervention in Iran".
In July 2025, Johnson adjourned the House early to prevent action on the relationship of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. During the 2025 shutdown, Johnson refused to call the House into session and was described as having "spent much of the shutdown appearing daily at news conferences" defending Trump and insisting that the House had nothing to do but wait in an effort "to render the House irrelevant".
During an August 2025 visit to the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank, Johnson stated that the "mountains of Judea and Samaria" belong to the Jewish people "by right".
During the 2025 United States federal government shutdown, Johnson kept the House of Representatives largely in recess and did not hold votes on funding legislation. According to The New York Times, Johnson largely deferred to the president during the second Trump presidency, limiting his control over his members.
In 2025, Johnson secured the position of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives after receiving an endorsement from Donald Trump, who directly intervened with holdout votes.
In 2025, Johnson was narrowly reelected to a full term as Speaker of the House.
In May 2025, Johnson supported Trump's use of the National Guard and Marines to quell the 2025 Los Angeles protests. He also suggested that California governor Gavin Newsom should be "tarred and feathered."
In March 2026, Johnson voiced support for joint Israeli-U.S. strikes against Iran, arguing for U.S. involvement as a "defensive measure" to manage the potential fallout from an imminent Israeli strike.
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