Mike Johnson: 3 Things You Probably Didn't Know About New US House Speaker

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana has now been elected the new US House Speaker, ending weeks of the House not being able to function. However, who is he?

While he is not as well-known as Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan and he stayed relatively quiet throughout his career as a congressman, he managed to become third in line to be president after Vice President Kamala Harris. Now that he has a higher office, he is now under much-focused scrutiny as media outlets dig up his past.

Three Things About Mike Johnson

While he was only elected in 2016, Mike Johnson has had a pretty high position in the House GOP, serving as the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, as well as GOP deputy whip, according to CNN. Here are three facts regarding the previously little-known House Republican:

He Is Relatively Inexperienced as a Congressman

When Nancy Pelosi first became House Speaker, she spent 20 years as a California congresswoman. Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy served 16 years before becoming US House Speaker and so did Paul Ryan. John Boehner had 20 years of lawmaking experience before he became Speaker too.

However, as NBC News pointed out, Mike Johnson only has seven years of experience. He was so unknown that some Republican senators from across the Capitol say that they have never even met him. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah infamously stated, that he knew "very little about him," but added it would "be interesting to see how the House runs if they choose a speaker that has no experience in leadership or as a committee chair. ... Inexperience seems to be a qualification."

Mike Johnson Is a Known Election Denier

As to why he got a lot of support, it may be because he is a huge Trump supporter and election denier who would placate the actual leader of the party, Donald Trump. He has even posted several conspiracy theories that Trump won the election in 2020.

"In every election in American history, there's some small element of fraud irregularity," he previously said in a radio interview. "But when you have it on a broad scale, when you have a software system that is used all around the country that is suspect because it came from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela when you have testimonials of people that like this, but in large numbers, it begs to be litigated and investigated."

These claims have already been debunked, with Chavez being already dead at the time of the 2020 election and courts throwing out many lawsuits filed by Trump's attorneys, many of whom are now willing to testify against him at the Georgia election trial.

Democrats Are Already Pointing Out His Flaws

Just minutes since he became the US House Speaker, Democrats are already on the attack, pointing out his voting record regarding abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, as well as his election denialism and conspiracy theories.

"House Republicans may be breathing a short-sighted sigh of relief now that they've elected a new Speaker," said a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee memo regarding their strategy on the new House Speaker, "but their decision to elevate an anti-abortion extremist who has pushed to gut Social Security and Medicare and who was one of the main architects of the illegal attempt to overturn the 2020 election will lose them the majority in 2024."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Rep. Mike Johnson voted new House speaker - CNN