WASHINGTON — Messaging for the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives is being handled by Louisiana Republican Rep. Mike Johnson, an evangelical rights lawyer from the northwestern corner of the state.
Johnson, of Benton, came to prominence in the late 1990s when he and his wife appeared on national television to represent Louisiana’s newly passed marriage covenant laws, which legally made divorce more difficult. It was the first major legislative victory for Louisiana Family Forum — the powerful association of conservative Christian pastors and congregations — and its national affiliate Family Research Council.
“Mike has a capability of walking into the lion’s den,” said Gene Mills, head of Louisiana Family. “A lot of politicians have staff who say, ‘It takes too much time, move on.’ But Mike has a willingness to sit down with people who disagree and hear them out.”
On the credenza behind his desk, Johnson positions the statue of Patrick Henry — “Give me liberty or give me death” — that the Family Forum awards its most ardent followers.
While most of the attention has zeroed in on incoming House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the Jefferson Republican who in January becomes the second highest-ranking leader in the U.S. House, Johnson, 50, also has been moving up the leadership ladder since first being elected in 2016.
As vice chair of the majority Republican Conference, Johnson is now the fifth-highest ranking GOP House leader.
“I’ve enjoyed the role,” Johnson said in a recent interview. “It gives me a seat at the leadership table where the big decisions are made about the direction; what we’re going to do; how the agenda is developed.”
Johnson also gets a seat on the House steering committee, whose members choose the chairs and members on the various committees that schedule and vet legislative proposals. Scalise and Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, also are on the steering committee, giving Louisiana far more say-so on leadership decisions than some states with far larger populations.
“The reason I worked hard to be at the leadership table is because I want to help develop what that overall message is,” Johnson said. “If you’re not at the leadership table you pretty much have to be a team player and go along with it.”
Johnson’s job as vice chair is to amplify a unified Republican message. He presses members to give speeches, then helps them turn those speeches into a platform that can play on local television news back home or in a newspaper op-ed.
He is the son of Patrick Johnson, a Shreveport fireman who nearly died in September 1984 on-the-job incident. That his father survived strengthened Johnson’s faith and shifted his life ambitions from fighting fires to expanding religious rights.
“I saw an actual miracle of my father surviving when they said that he shouldn’t,” Johnson said. “It made me a person of very deep faith.”
Johnson gives his father’s firefighting helmet equal prominence to the LSU football helmet that is the most ubiquitous adornment in the offices of Louisiana politicians.
Upon graduating LSU law school, Johnson married Kelly Lary, a schoolteacher.
Conservative Christians in the late 1990s thought divorces had become far too frequent under permissive procedures and sought to legally tighten those procedures. Marriage covenants would contractually bind newly married couples who agreed to seek counseling and be separated for a couple of years before divorcing.
Louisiana was the first state to turn the proposal into law and the Johnsons were among the first couples to marry under covenant marriage rules.
The couple went on national television and appeared in national magazines as the poster couple of covenant marriages.
Johnson went on to do legal work for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Scottsdale, Arizona, conservative Christian legal advocacy group, while representing insurance companies in his private practice.
State Attorney General Richard Ieyoub hired Johnson in 2004 to defend Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage. A subsequent attorney general, Buddy Caldwell, contracted Johnson to defend the state’s restrictive anti-abortion laws.
He was a frequent guest on Fox News, including Sean Hannity’s show.
As a religious liberty litigator, Johnson was in and around politics on a daily basis for 20 years and considered seeking public office himself. “I sort of thought in the back of my mind that we ought to do that one day,” Johnson said.
He was tapped early as rising star in the evangelical community’s move into political office.
He won a seat in the Louisiana House without opposition in 2015.
In the Louisiana Legislature, Johnson introduced the Marriage and Conscience Act, which protects people who religiously oppose same-sex marriage. Businesses as well as civil rights activists successfully opposed saying the measure allows discrimination of LGBTQ people in the name of religion.
In 2016, U.S. Rep. John Fleming, who later would work in the Trump White House, decided to run for the U.S. Senate. He urged Johnson to run for his congressional seat. Johnson won with 65% of the vote.
Johnson’s 4th Congressional district covers 750 precincts in 14 Louisiana parishes, including the cities of Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, Natchitoches and DeRidder. He’s been easily reelected since and faced no opposition in his 2022 reelection for a fourth two-year term.
As a congressman, Johnson received national attention for blasting “Little Demon,” an FX television series starring Danny DeVito, whose main character is the antichrist.
He saw a commercial for the series during the LSU-Florida State game in September. “I couldn't get to the remote fast enough to shield my 11-year-old from the preview, and I wonder how many other children were exposed to it and how many millions more will tune in to the new series, owned and marketed by Disney,” Johnson wrote on Facebook. FX is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.
Leaning on his knowledge of the constitution, Johnson drafted a way GOP lawmakers could support President Donald Trump’s belief that the 2020 election was stolen, yet avoid embracing the more farcical “evidence” that was refuted by about 80 courts.
Basically, Johnson argued that some governors took it upon themselves, rather than relying on state legislatures to do so, and changed balloting procedures because of the pandemic. That was unconstitutional, Johnson argued. His logic was widely repeated.
In October, Johnson filed “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022,” which was co-sponsored by 32 other Republicans. The bill prohibits federal funding for any "sexually-oriented" event or material for children under the age of 10. Critics call the measure a federal “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”
It’ll no doubt be debated in the upcoming Congress.
Prior to joining Republican House leadership, Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee, a policy debating shop that is the largest caucus of conservatives in the House. He got the caucus to amend its bylaws to insert specific ideas, such as individual freedom, limited government, and the rule of law.
“These are landmarks on the horizon,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘In some ways we’re losing sight of the horizon.’”
Johnson argued then and argues today that conservatives need to articulate in clear and consistent terms the policies they support.
“What I’m trying to do is advance those core principles in everything that we do: policy, messaging, the agenda because I believe that’s what’s best for the country,” Johnson said.