ICYMI: Speaker Johnson Casts Early Vote on One-Year Anniversary of his Speakership

October 27, 2024

Contact: Greg Steele

BOSSIER CITY, LA  –  On Friday, in his hometown of Benton, LA, Speaker Mike Johnson and his wife Kelly cast their votes for Republicans up and down the ballot and encouraged all Louisianians to make their plans to vote. Afterwards, Speaker Johnson held a press conference with local media and reflected on 365 days of serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Click here to watch Speaker Johnson's remarks

"It was exactly one year ago today, on October 25th, that we got the rather surreal and unexpected opportunity to lead the Congress. And it's not a job, as we've explained before, that we ever expected or anticipated or threw our hat in initially. But it's been our great honor to serve in that capacity as the 56th speaker of the House. I'm the first Speaker of the House we've ever had from the state of Louisiana, and it has been a real honor for us," Speaker Johnson said. "It's been humbling and a great opportunity, but it doesn't it doesn't overshadow the great honor that it is to be the representative of the people of the great state of Louisiana and the Fourth Congressional District. That has been the great honor of our lives, and we have been really thankful to do that."

Below are excerpts from Speaker Johnson's remarks:

On early voting:

"This is a very consequential election. Many of us believe that this is the most important election of our lifetime, and it's really important that we get engaged. We're 11 days out now from that fateful election and so we really need Louisiana to weigh in. And we're excited about that outcome. It's our civic duty, we have the greatest nation in the history of the world. It's the strongest, most powerful, most resilient, most free, most benevolent nation that has ever been on the earth. And our system relies upon an engaged and informed electorate and so when we have an opportunity to vote in a big one, this is something all of us should do."

On serving one year as Speaker:

"We have a great challenge as Speaker because as everyone knows I was called to preside over the smallest margin in US history. Literally true for several of those months, we had a one vote margin, and yet we were still able to accomplish a lot of important things. The Republican Party, my party, of course, only had the majority in one chamber, just the House. So we only controlled one half of one third of the federal government. So what was required was for us every day to play a lot of defense. We had the other party in charge of the White House and the Senate, and there really has been a radical kind of progressive agenda that has been advanced in Washington. So we were able to stop a lot of that agenda. I think it's a very, very important role that we played."

"Serving as 56th Speaker of the House and leading this fight is an incredible honor and Kelly and I are just really grateful that people here at home allow us to do this job. You guys know my story. I mean, I'm the son of teen parents in Shreveport and a disabled firefighter. And it's only in a country like this that a kid like me could get elected to Congress and wind up as Speaker of the House. I am an example of the American dream. I'm so blessed to have been able to do that. And what we're fighting for in this election cycle is to preserve that American dream, to pass it along to our children and our grandchildren. because it's in jeopardy right now."

On House GOP wins in the 118th Congress:

"Remember, a lot of what we passed through the House was stopped cold in the Chuck Schumer controlled Senate, with the Democrats controlling it. But we passed the strictest border security measure in history. That was HR 2. HR 1 was our energy policy bill, which would've been extraordinary for Louisiana and Texas  and our American energy dominance around the world, and lowered the cost of living for everyone. We passed that through the House. We passed bills to protect girls' sports and parents' rights in our schools. We stood up for our allies and passed funding to help Americans recover from disasters. Here at home, we passed legislation to improve the quality of life for American service members."

On serving the people of Louisiana's 4th District: 

"We're one of the largest military districts in America, as most people know. We have Barksdale Air Force Base, we're home to the Global Strike Command. We have Fort Johnson down in the Leesville area, southern part of the district, and the Joint Readiness Training Center, and of course Camp Minden as well. I wrote down a couple of the figures of the things we've been able to bring home. I joined the House Armed Services Committee back in 2021, and that was a key position before I became Speaker. But certainly since becoming Speaker we've been able to secure a lot of the needs for the district: $3.5 billion in that time for the Air Force B-52 program, $2.6 billion for the Long Range Standoff Weapon program, and over $750 million in military construction projects for the Fourth District.

We also were able to get into this year's NDAA. Some things we fought for: a 19.5% pay increase for junior enlisted service members, a 4.5% increase for all service members. We expanded the food and housing allowance and we authorized more than $1 billion to improve barracks and living conditions on bases throughout the country. My staff has also been doing an extraordinary job because when you become Speaker of the House, you become a steward of the whole country. But our first priority has always been to take care of our people here. And my staff has really stepped up. We've had resource fairs for veterans throughout the district. We've had round tables with local farmers and healthcare workers and elected officials and pastors and clergy around the district, grant seminars for local law enforcement and other interested parties and FEMA disaster preparedness briefings.

And of course, we've held satellite office (hours) in our offices throughout the district in our many parishes in every corner of the district. And, and through our constituent service work, we've returned more than $10 million in benefits to the things that were owed to individual constituents. My team strives every day to provide top-notch constituent service to our people. And I think I'd put my team up against anyone. And I know that y'all have seen them so active and everywhere. And by the way, if anyone has a problem with any federal government agency, give us a call."