Republican · Louisiana's 4th District · 2026
Mike Johnson
Johnson was 12 when his firefighter father suffered burns that left him permanently disabled.
Biography
Mike Johnson is the son of a Shreveport firefighter injured in the line of duty, and the first person in his family to attend college.1 He and his wife, Kelly, married in 1999 and have four children; she is a former teacher and pastoral counselor.1
Johnson graduated from Louisiana State University in business administration in 1995 and earned his law degree there in 1998.1 He practiced constitutional law for nearly two decades before entering Congress, with service in the Louisiana Legislature from 2015 to 2017.1 He first won his congressional seat in December 2016.1
Johnson became House speaker in 2023, the first person from Louisiana to hold that office.1 His previous House roles included chairing the Judiciary Committee's Constitution and Limited Government Subcommittee, leading the Republican Study Committee and serving as vice chairman of the House Republican Conference.1 In July 2026, he contributed a letter to Bossier's community time capsule, to remain sealed until 2076, discussing his family, faith and constitutional views.2 He helped lead House passage of the July 2025 tax and spending law.3 It made the 2017 individual income tax rates permanent and created work and community engagement requirements for certain Medicaid adults.45
He faces fellow Republicans Gordon Heslop and Mike Nichols and Democrats Conrad Cable and Matt Gromlich in the district's open primary.6 His election argument emphasizes taxes, border enforcement, domestic energy production and maintaining Republican control of Congress.7
Record and controversies
2020 election challenge
Johnson helped organize House Republican support for Texas's 2020 Supreme Court election challenge, with an amicus brief arguing that election rules had departed from constitutional requirements.89 On December 11, 2020, the court denied Texas permission to file its complaint for lack of standing, saying Texas had not established a judicially cognizable interest in another state's elections; that was not a decision finding election fraud.10
Campaign rent complaint
In August 2025, Campaign Legal Center asked the FEC and Office of Congressional Conduct to examine whether campaign rent payments covered Johnson's personal housing.1112 His campaign said the payments rented separate office space with its own entrance and street access, used only for campaign business, and maintained that the arrangement complied with law.12 No final public decision by the agency could be found.