Mike Johnson is the 56th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the first person from Louisiana elected to the post, and is seeking a sixth term representing Louisiana's 4th Congressional District.[1][2] A constitutional lawyer who served in the Louisiana House before winning his congressional seat in 2016, he was elected Speaker in October 2023 after chairing the House Republican Study Committee and serving as vice chairman of the House Republican Conference.[1][2]
Johnson was born January 30, 1972, in Shreveport, Louisiana.[3] His official biography describes him as the eldest son of a firefighter who was critically burned and permanently disabled in the line of duty, and as the first person in his family to attend college.[1] He earned an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University in 1995 and a Juris Doctorate from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU in 1998.[1]
Johnson practiced constitutional law for nearly 20 years before his election to Congress, including litigating cases in district and appellate courts nationwide.[1] Ballotpedia lists his career experience as including work as an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, founding the nonprofit Freedom Guard, and serving as an online adjunct professor at Liberty University's Helms School of Government.[2] He served in the Louisiana House of Representatives, District 8, from 2015 to 2017.[1][2]
Johnson was first elected to Congress in December 2016, which his official biography says was by the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years, and he is serving his fifth term.[1] In the House he served on the Judiciary Committee, including as chairman of its Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, and on the Armed Services Committee, the Natural Resources Committee and the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.[1] He held leadership roles as vice chairman of the House Republican Conference and chairman of the Republican Study Committee.[1]
The House elected Johnson Speaker on October 25, 2023, in the fourth round of floor voting after the House removed Kevin McCarthy, and re-elected him on January 3, 2025, in the first round.[2] He had served about 6.8 years in the House at his first election, and his official biography says he was the first person unanimously elected to the post by his party in more than two decades.[1][2] According to his official biography, he and his wife, Kelly, have been married since 1999 and have four children.[1]
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.
