About Speaker Mike Johnson
Speaker Johnson is a dedicated husband and father of four, as well as a constitutional law attorney who has devoted his life and career to fighting for the fundamental freedoms and traditional values that have always been a priority to the people of Louisiana.
Speaker Mike Johnson is the 56th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Republican member of Congress serving Louisiana’s Fourth District. He is the first person from Louisiana ever elected to the position, and the highest ranked government official in the history of the state.
Speaker Johnson was elected to his post after serving less than 6.8 years in the House, making him the second fastest person to ever receive the honor. (In 1883, Speaker John G. Carlisle had previously served only 6.75 years.) Speaker Johnson was also the first person to be unanimously elected to the position by his party in more than two decades.
His success in leading one of the smallest majorities in history through our polarized era of politics has earned him many accolades. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich describes Speaker Johnson’s tenure as, “the most challenging speakership since the Civil War more than 160 years ago.” He has been labeled “The Survivor” when featured on the cover of TIME Magazine , “Master of the House” by Commentary Magazine , and “The Leader of the Free World” by The Wall Street Journal . Respected for his leadership internationally, Speaker Johnson is the first U.S. Speaker to ever be invited to address the British Parliament, and only the third to be invited to address the Israeli Knesset.
As a Member of Congress, Speaker Johnson represents the nearly 760,000 residents of 20 parishes in the western, northwest, and northeast regions of Louisiana. Speaker Johnson was first elected to Congress in December 2016, by the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years, and is currently serving in his fifth term.
Prior to his election as Speaker, he previously served on the House Judiciary Committee, and as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. Speaker Johnson also served in the Louisiana Legislature from 2015-17, and practiced constitutional law for nearly 20 years, successfully litigating high profile cases in district and appellate courts nationwide.
The eldest son of a firefighter who was critically burned and permanently disabled in the line of duty, Speaker Johnson was the first person in his family to attend college. He earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University in 1995, and his Juris Doctorate from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1998.
He and his wife Kelly, a former schoolteacher and now a Licensed Pastoral Counselor, have been married since 1999, and have four children, Hannah, Abigail, Jack and Will.
The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives and second in the presidential line of succession. The Speaker sets the legislative agenda, controls floor debate, assigns bills to committees, and serves as the chief spokesperson for the House majority party. The role carries significant influence over which legislation reaches a vote and the overall direction of the chamber.