Before becoming House Speaker, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was heavily involved in aiding Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. This history will be highlighted as Johnson is set to speak alongside Trump about “election integrity,” a term often used by Trump to push the false narrative that the 2020 election was rigged. Johnson played a significant role in supporting Trump’s attempts to subvert the election results, with many of his actions taking place behind-the-scenes or within his Louisiana district without much national attention.
As a Republican, Johnson questioned the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory and raised concerns about mail-in voting, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. While these complaints were common among many GOP members, Johnson also promoted the baseless conspiracy theory that voting technology companies like Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems were part of an international plot to flip millions of votes from Trump to Biden. These claims were later proven false, leading to defamation lawsuits against some pro-Trump figures and media outlets, although Johnson was not named in these lawsuits.
Johnson also alleged that the election was “rigged” in Georgia due to a flawed system set up for massive fraud, despite multiple statewide tallies confirming Biden’s victory without systematic irregularities. He later rallied House Republicans to endorse a Trump-backed lawsuit seeking to invalidate results in key states that Trump lost, a case that was swiftly rejected by the Supreme Court. The legal brief filed by Johnson and his colleagues raised doubts about the election outcome and the integrity of the American electoral system.
After the January 6th insurrection, Johnson voted for objections to Democratic electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania, which would have deprived Biden of 36 electoral votes he legitimately won. On the House floor, Johnson inaccurately claimed that judges had usurped authority by changing voting rules in 2020, a claim debunked by the Supreme Court. The attempt to nullify results from Arizona and Pennsylvania, potentially disenfranchising millions of voters, was defeated by a bipartisan majority of lawmakers.
Johnson’s role in supporting Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election showcases his commitment to challenging the results and promoting baseless conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud. Despite facing backlash and defamation lawsuits over his claims, Johnson remained steadfast in his beliefs about the integrity of the election process. His actions, along with those of other pro-Trump figures, added to the political division and misinformation surrounding the outcome of the 2020 election, ultimately resulting in legal challenges and objections that were rejected by the courts and legislators.
