congress Mike Johnson Contact information

Speaker Mike Johnson is the 56th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Republican member of Congress proudly serving Louisiana’s Fourth District. On October 25, 2023, he was elected unanimously by his House Republican colleagues to serve as the Speaker. After a tenure of less than 6.8 years in the House, Mike was given the honor faster than any person in history except for Speaker John G. Carlisle in 1883, who had previously served for only 6.75 years. As a Member of Congress, he represents the nearly 760,000 residents of 16 parishes in the northwest and western regions of his state. Mike was first elected to Congress on December 10, 2016, by the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years and is currently serving in his fourth term in Congress.

Prior to being Speaker, Mike was elected by his colleagues to serve as Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference, one of the seven elected leadership positions for Republicans in the House of Representatives, as well as Deputy Whip. He was also previously honored to serve as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, known as “the intellectual arsenal of conservatism in the House.”

With two decades of previous experience in Constitutional law, Mike previously served on the House Judiciary Committee, and as chairman of its Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. He also served as a leader on the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, the House Natural Resources Committee, and the House Armed Services Committee. His district includes important military installations, including Barksdale Air Force Base, headquarters of the Air Force Global Strike Command, and Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk) and the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center, as well as the Louisiana National Guard’s Camp Minden Training Site and other assets.

Mike is a dedicated husband and father and an attorney who has devoted his life and career to fighting for the fundamental freedoms and traditional values that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world. He spent nearly 20 years successfully litigating high profile constitutional law cases in district and appellate courts nationwide, and previously served in the Louisiana Legislature (2015-17).

The eldest son of a Shreveport firefighter who was critically burned and permanently disabled in the line of duty, Mike learned early on the values of hard work, honor, and sacrifice. He has a practical understanding of the challenges that small business owners face because he, like his parents and grandparents, is one himself. Mike has also been a college professor, conservative talk radio host and columnist, a media spokesman for America’s largest religious liberty organizations, a constitutional law seminar instructor, a board member and legal counsel for national organizations and numerous community groups and ministries.

Mike 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 school teacher and now a Licensed Pastoral Counselor, have been married since 1999, and have four children, Hannah, Abigail, Jack and Will, and an older son Michael, who became a part of their family in 1999. Today, they reside in Bossier Parish.

Fiscal Responsibility

Because government has refused to live within its means, America is facing an unprecedented debt and spending crisis. Federal debt now exceeds $26 trillion, and our current fiscal path is unsustainable and dangerous, jeopardizing our nation’s economic growth, stability and the security of future generations. Congress has a moral and constitutional duty to resolve the crisis, bring spending under control, balance the federal budget, reform and modernize entitlement programs, eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, pursue continued pro-growth tax reforms and permanent tax reductions, and restore regular order and accountability in the budget and appropriations processes.

Free Markets

Government often stands as the greatest obstacle to the progress and prosperity of free people. Free markets and free trade agreements allow for innovation, improvement and economic expansion as risk-takers, entrepreneurs and business owners are given the liberty to pursue the American dream and create more jobs and upward mobility for more people. We believe competition should be encouraged, and government intervention and regulation should be limited. The people are better qualified to make decisions about their own lives and finances than bureaucrats, and the private sector will outperform the public sector in virtually every scenario. The free enterprise system rewards hard work and self-sacrifice and is the basis and genius of the American economy.

Human Dignity

Because all men are created equal and in the image of God, every human life has inestimable dignity and value, and every person should be measured only by the content of their character. A just government protects life, honors marriage and family as the primary institutions of a healthy society, and embraces the vital cultural influences of religion and morality. Public policy should always encourage education and emphasize the virtue of hard work as a pathway out of-poverty, while public assistance programs should be reserved only for those who are truly in need. In America, everyone who plays by the rules should get a fair shot. By preserving these ideals, we will maintain the goodness of America that has been the secret to our greatness.

Individual Freedom

The birth of our great nation was inspired by the bold declaration that our individual, God-given liberties should be preserved against government intrusion. That same conviction informs our conservative policy decisions still today.

In America, we proclaim the self-evident truths that all of us are created equal and granted by God the same inherent freedoms, such as the natural and unalienable rights to life, liberty, conscience, free speech and the free exercise of religion, and the ability to pursue happiness, own property, build wealth and defend ourselves and our families. The purpose of government is to secure these rights, and the ideas we advance should always aim to maintain and increase the liberty of the American people.

Limited Government

For individual liberty to be championed, government must be reduced. We believe, as our founders did, that legitimate government operates only by the consent of the governed and is more efficient and less corrupt when it is limited in its size and scope. When applied as written, our incomparable Constitution provides important safeguards against government encroachment, a vital separation of powers, and a necessary system of checks and balances. Federalism, decentralized authority, and the elimination of unnecessary regulations and bureaucracy help ensure that government serves the people, and not the other way around. The best protection against government largesse is an engaged and informed electorate.

Peace through Strength

The first obligation of the federal government is to provide for the “common defense” of the United States by protecting our homeland and our strategic interests abroad. Because America serves in a natural role of moral leadership in an increasingly dangerous world, and weakness invites aggression, we must remain the strongest military power on earth fully prepared and capable of defeating any adversaries, tyrants or terrorists, under any circumstances, at any time. Adequate investment is necessary to maintain the air, land, sea, nuclear and cyber warfare.

Rule of Law

Ours is “a government of laws and not of men,” and the rule of law is our foundation. To maintain ordered liberty and a civilized society, public and private virtue should be encouraged, and justice must be administered equally and impartially to all. Each branch of government must adhere to the Constitution, and the judicial branch must not be allowed to assume or exercise legislative or executive powers. Transparency and accountability are keys to good government, and Congress must faithfully perform its constitutional responsibility of oversight.