While many residents hoped his new role would benefit the area, others were less confident, a reflection of the country’s ideological and racial divides
SHREVEPORT, La. — In this small town masquerading as a city, a mention of newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson during the lunchtime rush at Strawn’s Eat Shop Too drew an interruption.“Are you talking about Mike Johnson?” said a woman in a flowered blouse, gold-cross necklace and gray ponytail. “I’m his mom.”
Mike Johnson, 51, is a staunch conservative who championed religious causes before he was elected to the state legislature in 2015 and to Congress the following year. Although more low-profile than other Donald Trump supporters in Congress, he played a pivotal role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and opposes abortion rights, gun control and same-sex marriage, views shared by many supporters at home.
Like many cities in Louisiana, Shreveport is governed by Democrats and Bossier Parish is largely Republican; Republicans will control all three branches of state government once conservative Attorney General Jeff Landry, elected governor earlier this month, takes office in January.Shreveport-Bossier is culturally and physically closer to Dallas, a three-hour drive west, than New Orleans, five hours south. Its economy is dependent on oil and gas, making it vulnerable to booms and busts.
“He’s not going to compromise his values, but he will try to find common ground and work it out without it being personal,” Seabaugh said, just as he has at home. To the east in Bossier Parish, several sheriff’s deputies guarded the Johnson family’s stucco and brick two-story home. It’s the kind of neighborhoodRepublican Tina Hickey, 68, a retired nurse, lives up the street from Johnson in a house with flags out front — U.S. and LSU, Johnson’s alma mater. She said she has met Johnson at a few political events and was thrilled to see such an “honest, transparent, Christian man” elected speaker.
A former Shreveport city council member, Jackson, 54, was once a Democrat but said he now considers himself an independent. He’s working to counter homelessness and what he calls “trans-generational poverty” that dates to segregation.
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