Each Virginia Republican within the US Home of Representatives final week voted to elect Mike Johnson as the brand new Speaker of the Home, elevating an excessive, anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ candidate to probably the most highly effective place in Congress.
Reps. Ben Cline, Bob Good, Morgan Griffith, Jen Kiggans, and Rob Wittman all voted for Johnson, an evangelical conservative and former lawyer who’s been dubbed “MAGA Mike” by each allies and opponents.
Johnson is among the most conservative audio system ever and the least skilled speaker in 140 years–he’s in simply his fourth time period, and has by no means served in a senior occasion management place or as a full committee chair. In his quick period of time in workplace, he’s developed a staunchly conservative voting report, incomes himself a ranking of 92% from the American Conservative Union and 90% from Heritage Motion.
Along with serving to lead the trouble to overturn the 2020 presidential election and supporting cuts to Social Safety, Johnson helps a nationwide abortion ban and has an extended historical past of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
Johnson has lengthy opposed reproductive freedom and spent years working on the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ authorized group that helped overturn Roe v. Wade. Throughout his time on the group, he fought to close down an abortion clinic in Louisiana.
He has constantly opposed abortion rights in Congress, incomes himself an “A+” ranking from Susan B. Anthony Professional-Life America, a bunch that seeks to finish abortion in the US.
After being elected to the Home, Johnson pushed former President Donald Trump to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court docket in order that she would vote to overturn Roe. When Barrett and her fellow conservative Justices on the Court docket did overturn Roe, Johnson celebrated, calling it a “historic and joyful” day.
Johnson additionally signed onto a nationwide abortion ban after Roe was repealed.
Johnson additionally opposes homosexual marriage and through his time on the Alliance Defending Freedom, he filed a lawsuit defending Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage.
CNN additionally reported final week that Johnson has a historical past of utilizing inflammatory, anti-gay language in editorials, columns, and op-eds written throughout his time at Alliance Defending Freedom.
For instance, Johnson referred to as gay relationships “inherently unnatural,” “in the end dangerous,” and “expensive for everybody” in a 2004 editorial in help of a Louisiana modification banning same-sex marriage. That very same 12 months, he predicted that very same intercourse marriage may doom America in one other editorial.
“Consultants mission that gay marriage is the darkish harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that would doom even the strongest republic,” he wrote within the latter piece.
Democratic lawmakers throughout the nation have spoken out towards Johnson’s election and the Republicans who voted for him.
“Home Republicans tripled down on MAGA extremism and elected Congressman Mike Johnson as the following Speaker,” Virginia Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan mentioned in a assertion. “As worldwide crises proceed to accentuate and our nation barrels in direction of a authorities shutdown, Democrats stay able to get to work on behalf of the American folks.”
