COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — After weeks without a leader, a 51-year-old man from northwestern Louisiana is the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a conservative Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2016 after serving two years in the Louisiana legislature.
Before he ran for public office, he lived in North Texas.
In 2011 and 2012, Johnson worked as a constitutional law attorney arguing religious freedom cases with what is now called First Liberty Institute in Plano.
“He’s from an area that’s not too far from the Texas border,” said Mike Berry, vice president for external affairs for First Liberty Institute. “He fought for religious liberty while he was here in Texas.”
“We know those are his roots, and he’ll stay true to those roots as Speaker of the House,” Berry said.
Berry knows Johnson well and was in touch with him in the days leading up to the Speaker vote.
“The first and only thing he asked for was prayer,” Berry said.
He said Johnson is deeply committed to his faith and his family.
“I think what America is getting, and what the House of Representatives is getting, is someone who is a reconciler,” Berry said. “He’s able to cross bridges that sometimes people in government are not able to cross. Mike has a unique ability to do that.”
Johnson won the speakership on the first try, after several weeks of gridlock inside the Republican conference.
It was a straight party-line vote with no Republicans defecting.
Texans had pivotal roles in keeping the speaker’s gavel out of their Republican colleagues’ hands.
In a statement, Congresswoman Kay Granger from Fort Worth said, “Now that we have elected a Speaker, we must refocus our attention on passing our Fiscal Year 2024 bills – the most conservative appropriations bills in history. With the next funding deadline just weeks away, we have no time to waste."
Congressman Jake Ellzey from Waxahachie also issued a statement that read: "I look forward to working with Speaker Johnson to advance strong conservative policies, secure our southern border, increase support for Israel, hold the Biden administration accountable for its executive overreach, and rein in wasteful government spending."
Johnson immediately faces several urgent challenges: Israel, Ukraine, and a November 17 deadline to fund the U.S. government.