When Mike Johnson was elected Speaker of the House in 2023, his financial disclosures raised eyebrows. It would appear the Republican Congressman from Louisiana, a right-wing evangelical Christian, did not report a bank account or assets going back to 2016. How could that be?
“I’m a man of modest means,” Johnson told Fox News on Sunday, explaining that he’s spent most of his career working in the nonprofit sector and now has multiple kids to put through college. “But I can relate to everybody else,” he said, adding that he’s a “better leader” as a result.
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Keep reading for a deep dive into Johnson’s net worth, how the ultra-conservative lawyer got his start in politics, and why he’s basically living paycheck to paycheck.
How did Speaker Mike Johnson get his start?
Johnson was born Jan. 30, 1972, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to teenage parents (he wound up being the oldest of four). When he was 12, his father, a firefighter, suffered burns over 80 percent of his body in a 1984 explosion. “I saw an actual miracle of my father surviving when they said that he shouldn’t,” he once said. “It made me a person of very deep faith.”
After high school, Johnson got an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University, where he later attended law school, graduating with his juris doctorate in 1998.
Like many politicians, Johnson worked as a lawyer before entering the D.C. arena. His focus was on constitutional law, religious liberty and family law, and his views were ultra-conservative. Working for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a right-wing advocacy group, he defended Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage to the state’s supreme court twice.
“Some people are called to pastoral ministry,” he said, when he first ran for Congress (via The New Yorker). “I was called to legal ministry, and I’ve been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war.’”
In 2015, Johnson was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives, where he continued to advocate for conservative causes, and the following year, he was voted into the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Louisiana’s 4th congressional district.
Johnson was chosen as Speaker of the House in October 2023 after the ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
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What are Speaker Mike Johnson’s political views?
Johnson is a conservative Christian and the most right-wing speaker in recent history. Same-sex marriage? He’s opposed to it. Abortion? He wants a national ban on it. (He once said that Roe v. Wade “gave constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America, period.”)
In 2022, he introduced legislation that came to be known as the “don’t say gay” bill, as it would prohibit any talk of sexual orientation and gender identity at any federally-funded institution.
He also curried favor with MAGA Republicans in 2020 by refusing to certify the election.
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What is Speaker Mike Johnson’s net worth?
Forbes estimates that Mike Johnson’s net worth is in the ballpark of $350,000, making him the least wealthy speaker of the century (along with being the least experienced). For comparison, Johnson’s predecessor Kevin McCarthy owned an investment portfolio in the six figures and former speaker Paul Ryan had assets in the millions. On the left, Nancy Pelosi’s net worth has been pegged at nearly $250 million, eclipsing them all.
According to Forbes, Johnson’s main asset—as listed in his financial disclosure forms—is his Benton, Louisiana home, worth an estimated $600,000 (he and his wife, Kelly, borrowed $290,000 to buy the home for $428,500 in 2013), He didn’t even list a checking account or retirement account. (That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a checking account, FYI; it just means that any such account doesn’t bear interest and isn’t, therefore, subject to disclosure.)
What is Speaker Mike Johnson’s salary in Congress?
Johnson’s congressional salary is $174,000.
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What does Mike Johnson get paid to be Speaker of the House?
Johnson got a roughly $50,000 raise to be Speaker of the House, earning $223,000 per year.
How does Speaker Johnson make his money?
Johnson has made his money as a lawyer and a politician, and despite his modest net worth, he’s earned a good salary doing both. For instance, in 2015, he took a job as a partner at a Louisiana law firm, making $128,000 that year and $181,000 the following. He also earned $35,000 during that period for his seat in the Louisiana state House, a part-time gig.
Once he was elected to Congress, he started earning $174,000 a year. Then he got a $50,000 raise to be Speaker of the House.
Meantime, starting in 2018, Johnson began teaching college courses online at the Christian Liberty University, raking in up to $30,000 a year, according to Forbes.
Overall, his income has left many people scratching their heads over why the speaker appears to be living paycheck to paycheck. He’s chalked it up to having a lot of expenses, including several kids in college or graduate school.
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