Could anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Mike Johnson cost Republicans the House?

A lot of jokes have been made about the fact that no one had ever heard of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) before he managed to secure enough Republican votes last week to become the Speaker of the House. But his extremist positions are no laughing matter, and that, according to one columnist, is why Democrats should make him a household name leading into the 2024 election.

After weeks of infighting that left Congress paralyzed, House Republicans finally settled on Johnson last Wednesday, winning over the party’s far-right holdouts who had rejected three previous candidates. The New York Times described the Louisiana congressman as “an architect” of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He’s also a religious radical with a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ and abortion rights.  

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The newly elected House Speaker described himself as a “Bible-believing Christian” who loves “all people.”

Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations greeted Johnson’s election with dismay. But as MSNBC’s Michael A. Cohen writes, Johnson’s “extremist, maximalist” positions on every key issue on which Republican candidates will be vulnerable next year could be a boon for Democrats trying to retake control of the House.

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“Johnson is a Trump-loving, election-denying, abortion ban-supporting, gay rights-opposing, climate change-rejecting, and conspiracy-believing conservative,” Cohen writes. “If House Democrats are smart, they will turn Mike Johnson into a household name — though not in a good way.”

Cohen describes Johnson as Democrats’ “dream candidate.”

“For any GOP candidates in a close race, and especially the 18 House Republicans running in congressional districts President Biden won in 2020, he will be a political albatross,” Cohen writes.

Johnson’s record, Cohen argues, gives Democratic challengers plenty of ammunition against their Republican opponents. His positions allow Democrats to paint Republican incumbents, every one of whom voted for Johnson, as anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ+, racist, pro-gun, and as threats to the foundations of American democracy, and will force vulnerable GOP lawmakers to defend their support for Johnson.

“No matter the issue, Johnson has taken positions that are both far outside the mainstream and that Democrats have already used to mobilize their voters,” Cohen writes.

House Republicans are entering the 2024 election defending a “razor-thin” five-seat majority, and as Cohen notes, Democrats are likely to pick up seats in Alabama and Georgia, and potentially even Louisiana and Florida pending court decisions that could reshape congressional districts in those states. In swing districts, where Biden won in 2020, making Johnson an avatar of the Republican party’s move to the far-right could give Democrats the edge they need.