As a leader of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of legislators, Bacon outwardly shows his supposed willingness to work with the other side. And, for a while, many Nebraskans believed him – he’s now serving his fourth term. Bacon himself explained that “[w]e need leaders in Congress who search for areas of agreement and not just where we disagree.”
Bacon even stood up to the ultra-conservative agitator Rep. Jim Jordan in his bid for the House Speakership, a position that is second in line to the presidency and the highest position in the House of Representatives. Jordan is one of the most prominent faces in Congress who tried to overturn the 2020 election. But Bacon showed his true colors on Tuesday when he cast his vote for Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
Before the Oct. 25 speaker election, most Americans probably wouldn’t have been able to pick Mike Johnson out of a lineup of white guys with black hair. But that all changed after three weeks of continued Republican dysfunction in the House of Representatives.
After Rep. Matt Gaetz’s ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, more than 10 different members of the Republican caucus (a group of Congresspeople who vote similarly on issues that matter to them) threw their names into the hat to become Speaker.
Rep. Steve Scalise went down first; he never opted to have the whole Congress vote on his candidacy after failing to convince enough Republicans to vote for him. The Democrats never got the opportunity to vote on his candidacy, but they made it clear that they wouldn’t support him. Next up to bat was Jordan, who, after a controversial pressure campaign and three embarrassing floor votes, withdrew from the running. Third was Tom Emmer, who was hailed by former President Donald Trump as a “Globalist [Republican in Name Only]” after Trump withheld support because of Emmer’s failure to vote to overturn the election. Still in Trump’s grip, the Republican caucus immediately rejected Emmer, even after he repeatedly tried to show his alliance and loyalty to the former President.
The chaos-stricken and exhausted GOP then turned to its fifth option, Mike Johnson. The Louisiana Congressman serving his fourth term is a relative newcomer compared to the rest of the Republican leadership, but he unanimously secured the vote of the Republicans in the House, beating out Democrat Hakeem Jeffries in a final vote of 220-to-209.
Johnson, renowned by many of his colleagues to be a “policy wonk,” has had a deeply conservative streak of votes since he was elected. He was also instrumental in the Republican House Caucus’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. If Jordan was the public face of the House’s effort to overturn the election, Mike Johnson was the architect who gave Jordan his marching orders.
Johnson authored and filed a legal brief to the Supreme Court, supported by over half of the House Republicans arguing in favor of overturning election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which would have secured Trump a victory. When asked about this effort during his first press conference, he rejected the question, and the Congressmen around him booed the reporter who asked.
Questioned by a Fox News reporter on his controversial views surrounding LGBTQ+ rights, he responded that his ideology was to “go pick up a Bible.” He is for raising the age of Americans to get on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, which means that Americans won’t be able to access these vital programs until later in their life. He’s railed against no-fault divorce, a practice that makes it easier for people to leave abusive marriages. He also said during a sermon on the campaign trail that gay marriage, abortion and feminism have all led to increased mass shootings.
Before running for Congress, Johnson worked for a group called the Alliance Defending Freedom, classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The ADF sues and fights on issues surrounding religious freedoms; some of their primary goals include limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, outlawing abortion nationwide and expanding Christian practices within government and the public school system. This paragraph can’t contain the entirety of Johnson’s unsavory views, and it isn’t meant to. But what it is meant to illustrate is the fact that Johnson is nowhere near a moderate.
But Don Bacon still voted for him.
This means either one of two things: either Bacon didn’t care about Jordan’s policy views, or Bacon believed that his constituency would realize that Johnson is a quieter but more violently effective Jordan.
The former has some backing. Bacon took issue with how Jordan was nominated to become Speaker. Jordan’s campaign for Speaker involved slews of constituents calling and pressuring moderates to flip their vote to Jordan from McCarthy or other candidates. Bacon told Nebraska Public Media, “Mr. Jordan needs to make clear that this behavior is wrong. There’s been a bullying campaign to corral the votes and they’re messing with the wrong people.”
It wasn’t Jordan’s policy that Bacon disagreed with – it was a personal grievance, which is exactly what caused the ouster of McCarthy in the first place.
And Bacon has already had to answer to the latter. In a KETV interview, Bacon told reporters that he disagreed with Johnson on his vote to certify the 2020 election. But what Bacon needs to realize is that this sentiment is nowhere near enough to convince voters that he didn’t just elevate an election denier and a far-right MAGA conservative to the seat that is second-in-line to the Presidency. Bacon tried to paint Johnson as an individual who respected the institution of the House of Representatives, but Johnson has shown how he uses his position to skirt the rule of law.
There’s no turning back for Bacon. Moderate House Republicans have earned the nickname “squishes,” a cheeky insult at their apparent willingness to fall in line behind party leadership and negotiate with Democrats. And for at least three votes, journalists thought that the squishes had grown spines and become vertebrates. But the elevation of Johnson showed that Bacon and the rest of the squishes did what they do best: fold over in the face of hard right conservatism.
