(C) Wisconsin Watch
This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Is Mike Johnson an Election Denier? Voting Record Explored [1]

['Tom Norton', 'Michael Seifert', 'Monica Crowley']

Date: 2023-10-25 14:15:08-04:00

With Louisiana Representative Mike Johnson's election as House Speaker, attention has turned to his voting record and how his politics could sway the lower chamber.

Johnson, 51, an attorney, has long been a close ally of Donald Trump during his time in Congress, including serving in the former president's legal defense team during his two impeachment trials in the Senate.

With an historically close relationship with the former president, attention has turned to where he positioned himself following the results of the 2020 election. Newsweek went back through his record to find out more.

U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) surrounded by House Republicans speaks after being elected as the speaker nominee during a GOP conference meeting in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on October 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images

November 2020

Posting after the 2020 election results, Johnson called into question the fairness of the American election system, offering his full-throated support toward Trump. Although not part of his election record, it indicated his early thoughts on the results and the actions that followed.

Posting on Twitter, now called X, on November 7, 2020, Johnson wrote: "Stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve.

"We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans' trust in the fairness of our election system."

December 2020

Johnson then filed a written submission to the Supreme Court, known as an amicus brief, supporting a Texas lawsuit that aimed to invalidate results in the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia. The brief was signed by 125 other House members.

The lawsuit accused the states of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to ignore federal and state election laws to skew the results of the November 3 election. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the suit, specifically challenged the legality of mail-in ballots, which he alleged were placed in drop boxes with "little or no chain of custody" and weren't subject to strong signature verification requirements.

In a statement previously sent to Newsweek, Johnson stated: "Most of my Republican colleagues in the House, and countless millions of our constituents across the country, now have serious concerns with the integrity of our election system.

"The purpose of our amicus brief will be to articulate this concern and express our sincere belief that the great importance of this issue merits a full and careful consideration by the Court."

The Supreme Court denied the lawsuit, due to lack of standing under Article 3 of the Constitution.

"Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot," the Court wrote.

January 6, 2021

Hours after the January 6 Capitol riots, Johnson was among 147 congressional Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania in favor of then-President-elect Joe Biden.

Johnson was among 139 House Republicans who challenged the results and, of that total, among the 120 who contested the outcome in both states.

Johnson was also among 175 House Republicans who voted against a commission to investigate the January 6, Capitol riot.

He has, however, since the events of January 6, resisted some efforts elsewhere in his party to sway discourse around the attack on the U.S. Capitol. In February last year, Johnson rejected the Republican National Committee's (RNC) suggestion that the attack amounted to "legitimate political discourse."

"I think it was inartfully [sic] worded," Johnson said.

"I think what the RNC was trying to say is there is obviously political discourse that goes on every day and went on January 6, but violence clearly is not. That is clearly a different category," Johnson told KNOE.

"I think the terms got conflated, and it caused a big political scuffle. Clearly, we have no tolerance whatsoever for the people that broke the law on January 6 to breach the Capitol and do damage to the people's House."

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-election-denier-voting-record-explained-1837892

Published and (C) by Wisconsin Watch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 Intl.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/wisconsinwatch/