As we told in Hispanidad, the House of Representatives of the United States is experiencing the most turbulent days due to the expulsion of its president, Republican Kevin McCarthy, at the initiative of Congressman Matt Gaetz and his anarchic libertarian colleagues with the support of Democrats.
After many attempts and failed candidates, the Republican majority in Congress unanimously chose the Congressman for Louisiana, Mike Johnson, as the new president of the House, becoming the third authority in the country after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
But who is Mike Johnson? Johnson was born 51 years ago in the city of Shreveport, in the state of Louisiana, where he spent his childhood and youth. At the age of 18, he began his university studies at Louisiana State University, where he graduated in business administration and later in law. An evangelical Christian and a person of deep religious faith, in 1999 he married Kelly Lary, with whom he has four children. Before entering politics, he had a long career as a lawyer. At the legal level, he stands as a legal advisor to the Alliance for the Defense of Freedom, a non-profit organization aimed at protecting Christian principles in public life, focusing its activity on the fight against abortion and the ideology of LGBTI.
– Emmanuel Rincon (@EmmaRincon) October 25, 2023
His political career was not particularly long, as he held his first public office in 2015, when he was elected as a Louisiana state congressman. Shortly after, in 2017, he became a United States Congressman from Louisiana. Much appreciated by his fellow members, in 2019 he assumed the presidency of the Republican Study Committee of the House of Representatives, and since 2021 he has held the position of vice president of the Republican Conference of the Lower House. This week, he reached the pinnacle of his parliamentary career, being named president of the House of Representatives. His name is not in the pools because his profile is always discreet, but he managed to gather the support of all his party colleagues for his strong conservative and Christian principles and for his Trumpist profile, which is common to the vast majority of remaining Republican congressmen.
His political career, like his legal career, was marked by a staunch defense of Christian values. Belonging to the so-called Christian right party and a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, Johnson defended a complete ban on abortion across the country and opposed gay marriage. Contrary to environmentalism, he describes renewable energy, especially wind and solar, as “the most inefficient energy source we have.” Also, after the 2020 presidential election, he was one of the Republican representatives who supported former President Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud.
Mike Johnson dedicated his inaugural address to reclaiming his Christian faith as a guide in his life: “I want to say to all my colleagues here what I said last night to the Republicans in that room… I don’t think that there are coincidences in an issue like this. I believe that the Scriptures, the Bible, make it very clear that God is the one who raises up those in authority. He raised each one of you. All of us. And I believe that God allows and ordains each of us to be here at this specific moment. This is my belief. I believe that each of us has a great responsibility today to use the gifts that God has given us to serve the unique people of this great country, and they deserve it.”
