Washington, (Asian independent) House Democrats are calling Republican US house speaker Mike Johnson the “boogeyman” as US President Joe Biden’s fund fundraising re-election campaign managers dubbed him as a “Trump Lackey” going forward into the 2024 Presidential race.
Ever since Johnson’s election on Wednesday, Biden’s re-election campaign blasted out a fundraising email, calling Johnson “a Trump lackey”.
Meanwhile, the House Democratic campaign arm sent messaging guidance, referring to Johnson as “Jim Jordan in a sports coat”.
These reports appeared in multiple newspapers including the Washington Post and the Hill.
In Virginia, facing state legislature elections next month, the state Democratic party warned that Johnson’s election makes the state elections “more important”.
The party is betting Johnson’s ardent support of former President Donald Trump and record on issues like his opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion and overturning the 2020 election results will backfire on swing and independent voters, the Hill reported.
“MAGA Mike certainly gives us the necessary tools to put in our toolbox to be able to build a case,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist.
Johnson was virtually an anonymous figure before Wednesday when House Republicans began to seriously consider Johnson as a Speaker contender.
To the majority of Americans and law makers, the Louisiana Republican was an unknown figure.
Since Johnson’s meteoric rise to fame as speaker from relative anonymity Democrats have started digging into his record as a Congressman and putting them on full display of the public to influence independent and swing voters into the 2024 elections.
Democratic lawmakers are highlighting Johnson’s role in drafting an amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit that contested the 2020 Presidential election results, making him the pivot of in Republican efforts to overturn the Biden election.
As the abortion issue including any opposition to a woman’s reproductive rights is virtually dividing Americans, Johnson’s opposition to abortion , supporting legislation that limited the procedure, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children From Late-Term Abortions Act and the Heartbeat Protection Act of 2021 are being highlighted showing him as a man without mercy to women.
Johnson’s support to proposals cutting into Social Security and Medicare which President Joe Biden had pushed through last year through legislation to support the American middle class and the poor, a major chunk of the democratic voter base, form part of the democratic campaign against the speaker.
Democrats have also hit Johnson for his support of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
“The fact that there is an election denier now as Speaker of the House shows that democracy is still facing a tremendous attack in this country,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jana Griswold, who also serves as chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.
“I don’t think that any member of Congress who is Republican who voted for him can run away from the fact that they elevated extremism in this country,” she said.
US politics is not new to making the House Speaker a liability for aspiring candidates in his party ahead of the November elections next year. Republicans famously featured former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in various ads attacking Democratic candidates.
“I think the Republicans did a great job, to their credit, of trying to define Speaker Pelosi and others in leadership roles previously and I think we missed an opportunity to return the favour,” Seawright said.
“With him not being defined among voters and constituencies across the country, I think it’s a great time for us to define not only who he is and what he stood for but who he stands with and who he stands against.”
“But Republicans say it’s too soon to tell how much of a liability Johnson will be for vulnerable candidates,” the post said.
