Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-9) issued the following statement in response to Republicans’ election of Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) to be U.S. House Speaker after weeks of embarrassing failure.

“Today Republicans found their goldilocks candidate: a person just extreme enough to satisfy their far-right base but not yet a household name to engender organized opposition,” said Congressman Pascrell. “If Republicans hide it, Americans need to know Mr. Johnson’s record. The new Speaker was an architect and ringleader of a scheme to throw out the 2020 election by judicial fiat. Mr. Johnson was one of Donald Trump’s House lawyers in both of Trump’s impeachment trials. Mr. Johnson supports a national abortion ban and a ban on gay marriage. This is the radical Republicans just named their leader after weeks of humiliating failure.

“Last night in introducing Mr. Johnson, Republican members literally shouted down questions about Mr. Johnson’s election subversion. One member told the press to ‘shut up!’ There is a grim irony in Republicans elevating as their leader a man who lost every previous ballot and then shouting down questions about his scheme to overthrow democracy. This is the Republican Party: unfit to govern and a danger to American democracy.”