Kinzinger: Mike Johnson will be a ‘good test’ for House GOP

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said the expected floor vote for Speaker-designate Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be a “good test” for the House GOP conference as it wrangles with intense division in the wake of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) historic ousting earlier this month.

The Republican conference nominated Johnson as its Speaker designate Tuesday night, just hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) withdrew his bid amid opposition.

The House is slated to hold a floor vote for Speaker on Wednesday afternoon, though questions remain over whether the GOP conference can coalesce around Johnson and give him the 217 votes needed to take the gavel.

“I think Mike Johnson will be a good test for everybody to see if kind of a regular name — not really a controversial name — can win this,” Kinzinger said in an interview on CNN shortly after Johnson clinched the nomination. “And if he can’t, then I think they’re going to start thinking outside the box.”

Johnson, 51, was elected to Congress in December 2016 and has served as the House GOP’s vice chair, a junior leadership position, since 2021. As Kinzinger pointed out, he is not necessarily a household name for many.

“I think we’re going to see a point eventually — if I had to predict where this was going to go — it’s either gonna go into, ‘People need to just elect [North Carolina GOP Rep.] Patrick McHenry,’ who, frankly, everybody likes, he’s just reluctant to do it,” Kinzinger said. “He doesn’t want to be Speaker; I don’t blame him. Or, ultimately, a deal has got to be cut with the Democrats, but we’ll see.”

McHenry is currently serving as the House’s acting Speaker but has been reluctant to launch a Speaker bid himself.

Kinzinger, who served on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, suggested Johnson’s involvement with the push by some Republicans to overturn the 2020 election results could spell trouble for the Louisiana Republican.

“And right now, with Mike Johnson, I mean I’ll tell you — the guy started out fairly normally and then went really deep into [former President] Trump when he realized that’s what it took to get reelected,” Kinzinger said. “So he may have the same issues Jim Jordan does, as long as the so-called moderates continue to try to fight back.”

Johnson was one of 139 House Republicans who voted to object the election results in Arizona, Pennsylvania or both in the hours that followed the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Shortly after the 2020 election, Johnson said he called Trump to say, “Stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve. We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans’ trust in the fairness of our election system.”

In 2020, Johnson was also among more than 100 House Republicans to sign an amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit that aimed to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

After the brief was introduced, Johnson wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: “President Trump called me this morning to let me know how much he appreciates the amicus brief we are filing on behalf of Members of Congress. Indeed, this is a big one!”

Shortly after winning the GOP nomination, Johnson spoke to a crowd of reports with several Republicans standing around him, signaling a potential unification of the conference.

“This House Republican majority is united,” Johnson told reporters, adding he intends to go to the House floor Wednesday.