Inside Mike Johnson's family life: New House Speaker nominee was an opponent of gay marriage and introduced the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act
SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA: Louisiana Rep Mike Johnson, who has been married to Kelly Johnson for 24 years, has been elected by House Republicans as their fourth nominee for the position of House speaker.
The 51-year-old Johnson, who is the vice chair of the House Republican Conference, won the nod on Tuesday, October 24 after Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No 3 House Republican, dropped his bid only hours after securing the nomination.
During a closed-door conference vote, Johnson defeated Rep Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on the third ballot, with 128 members voting in favor of him.
As the first nominee who appears to have a chance of becoming speaker, Johnson can only afford to lose four Republican votes on the House floor.
Following his win, the Louisiana Republican told reporters he was "very confident" that he could get 217 votes and said "the intention is to go to the floor" for a vote on Wednesday.
Johnson is an attorney and former radio host, who served as state representative for two years before being elected to Congress in 2016.
He was a member of former president Donald Trump's impeachment defense team and was instrumental in persuading House Republicans to sign a legal brief endorsing a lawsuit aimed at nullifying the results of the 2020 election.
Apart from the Judiciary Committee, Johnson is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and was the chairman of the Republican Study Committee for a brief period.
The family life of Mike Johnson
Born in Shreveport, Johnson is the oldest of Jeanne Johnson and James Patrick Johnson's four children. His father was a firefighter who joined the Shreveport Fire Department in 1974.
He graduated from Captain Shreve High School and earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
He also holds a Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University Law Center. In 1999, he exchanged vows with his wife Kelly Johnson, with whom he shares four young children.
Not much is known about Kelly but she first garnered public attention in 1999 when she joined her husband to appear on national television to represent Louisiana's newly passed marriage covenant laws, which made divorce more difficult legally.
What did Mike Johnson say about gay marriage?
Johnson, who was elected vice chairman of the Republican Conference first in 2021, has been a long-standing opponent of same-sex marriage.
At a crucial vote in July 2022 that sought to formalize the government protection of same-sex marriage, Johnson noted that his fellow GOP lawmakers had space to choose how they wanted to vote - explaining that the Whip team had communicated to them that the vote was a “matter of personal conscience.”
With 47 Republicans voting in favor of the bill, the results demonstrated a discernible movement in the direction of Republicans' opinions on LGBTQ matters in recent years.
On the other hand, Johnson disagreed with the bill and urged his colleagues to do the same.
A few months later, Johnson introduced the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act which prohibits the use of federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10.
The bill also prohibits federal funds from being used to host or promote events where adults dance salaciously or strip for children.
“This commonsense bill is straightforward. No federal tax dollars should go to any federal, state, or local government agencies, or private organizations that intentionally expose children under 10 years of age to sexually explicit material,” Johnson said at that time, according to The Hill.