Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnsons path in Republican politics began with a yearslong role as the senior attorney and national spokesperson for a group affiliated with the religious right dedicated to dismantling LGBTQ+ freedoms and outlawing abortion.

Johnson worked for that organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, for eight years, from 2002 to 2010, before serving a brief stint as a Louisiana state legislator and then heading to Congress in 2017. He first became a known entity in his state in the late 1990s when he and his wife went on national television as the face of Louisianas new marriage covenant laws , which made it harder to get a divorce.

The social conservative causes that have fueled Johnsons rise, many of which are deeply unpopular with the American public, are already worrisome to Democrats who fear that Johnson who downplayed the concept of the separation of church and state as recently as April may try to use the power of the speakership to advance his extreme views.

But some see a flip side, too: He is the perfect foil for the Democratic Party to run against in 2024.