The GOP finally has a leader who can run the House to advance conservative ideas.
The GOP finally has a leader who can run the House to advance conservative ideas.
Speaker-elect Mike Johnson, a conservative Republican from Louisiana, is nearly as unknown as Naples, Florida, Congressman Byron Donalds, whom we advocated for the top House job a few days ago. Just a few hours ago, he won 220 GOP votes in the House to become America’s 56th Speaker. He only needed 218.
The media cast the internal fight when the House was leaderless for nearly twenty days as “chaos.” Even Johnson acknowledged it by saying, “Democracy is messy sometimes, but it is our system. This conference that you see, this House Republican majority, is united.” It is clear that the GOP is united. For now. [Donalds had earned the second most votes, so he still has a promising career ahead].
The immediate winner is the State of Louisiana. Representative Steven Scalise, himself nominated for Speaker but then losing on the floor last week, is also from the Pelican State. Scalise is the Majority Whip, the House’s #2 most powerful role. Scalise will continue to hold this post.
A bigger winner is the GOP. For all the talk about Republicans being a conservative party, its leaders in Congress have been indistinguishable from the Democrats. Mike Johnson has an ultraconservative record in the House and as a state legislator. He has no political baggage and has flown under the radar for most of his House career. He is also a close Trump ally and this alone can help change the dynamics of the 2024 election.
Most of Johnson’s policy positions are cultural and religious. For example, he introduced a bill that would prevent federal dollars from going to any organization that “intentionally exposes children under ten to sexually explicit material.” Such legislation is popular with the evangelical right that forms an extensive base within the GOP.
He also was the lead signatory of an amicus brief in 2020 that opposed the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. We have often remarked in these columns that the electoral processes leading up to, during, and after election day were suspect.
