Democrats had an utter meltdown after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was unanimously elected by the Republican majority to lead the House of Representatives, the first Republican to be unanimously elected by his conference since 2011. 

According to an emailed statement posted to X by Punch Bowl News founder Jake Sherman, President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign strongly condemned the election of Johnson, despite Biden’s congratulations in an official statement from the White House. 

“MAGA Mike Johnson’s ascension to the speakership cements the extreme MAGA takeover of the House Republican Conference,” Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement. 

This came in contrast to Biden offering his and first lady Jill Biden’s “congratulations” to Johnson and their commitment to try to work “in good faith.” 

Democrats in Congress expressed their deep displeasure with Johnson securing the Speaker’s gavel on the first ballot, after three weeks of chaos since Speaker Emeritus Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) ouster, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). 

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) called Johnson an “insurrectionist.” 

“Insurrectionist Mike Johnson is now second in line to the presidency. The American people deserve better,” she said. 

Similarly, after Johnson won the gavel, Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) labeled him a “MAGA Extremist” and wrote that his “achievements” include seeking an “abortion ban” and voting “against LGBTQ+ rights.”

“With this choice, Republicans have embraced the extreme MAGA playbook,” she added. 

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) contended that the “GOP succumbed to the radical wing of their party.”

“Johnson is a MAGA extremist who helped fuel the January 6 insurrection, believes women and the LGBTQ community don’t deserve rights, and is another puppet to Donald Trump,” he wrote in an emailed press release.

Other prominent Democrats, including Reps. Adam Schiff (R-CA), who is running against Porter for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) old seat, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to X to share their dismay ahead of the vote when Johnson’s prospects looked very favorable. 

Schiff discouraged voters from doing their own research and googling the new Speaker. 

Let me make it simple: Johnson is a hard-right, pro-Trump, leading election denier in the House,” he wrote. “Sadly, this is what passes for Speaker material in the Republican conference.’ 

“Introducing extremist GOP Speaker nominee Mike Johnson,” wrote Ocasio-Cortez. “He was a key architect of the Jan 6th strategy to overturn the US election.”

“Here he is leading a crowd that’s booing and telling a Congressional correspondent to ‘shut up’ when asking about it,” she added while rehearing the video.