The new U.S. House speaker tried to help overturn the 2020 election, raising concerns about 2024

The new leader of one part of the government in the United States tried to change the result of the last presidential election. This makes people worry about what might happen in the next election in 2024. He did this even after there were rules put in place to protect the election process, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

The person in question is Mike Johnson, a congressman from Louisiana. He was recently elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives is important because it plays a role in deciding who becomes the next president. Mike Johnson was at the forefront of a legal effort to challenge the victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 election. This effort was not supported by legal experts, and it was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the 2020 election, Johnson also supported some wild and unproven ideas about why Donald Trump lost. He even voted against accepting Joe Biden as the winner of the election, even after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

This is concerning because the speaker of the House is second in line to become president after the vice president. The House of Representatives also has a role in certifying the winner of the 2024 presidential election.

It's important to have people in such positions who respect the results of the elections and follow the rules. But Johnson's actions suggest he may not do that. Some experts worry that he might use legal or technical language to undermine the election process.

The rules for certifying a presidential election win were changed last year to make it harder for lawmakers to challenge the results, like Johnson did in 2021. However, some people believe that these rules can't control how Congress checks the election results because the Constitution gives Congress the power to confirm the Electoral College's votes.

The House of Representatives will have new members elected in November 2024, so there's no guarantee that Speaker Johnson will stay in power. Even if he does, it would be challenging for him to change the election results. The vice president presides over the joint House and Senate session where the votes are counted, and they only call for votes if there are significant objections.

Still, in 2020, some supporters of Donald Trump wanted to take any legal argument against Biden's win to the Supreme Court, where conservative justices had a majority. If Johnson supports Trump's efforts to stay in power in the 2024 election, he could have a powerful role in that process.

After Johnson's nomination as speaker, he faced questions about his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. He didn't address these concerns and simply said, "Next question."

Democrats made this a central issue during the speaker vote, emphasizing that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. Some Republicans disagreed with this, showing the deep divisions.

Mike Johnson is a former lawyer who has been in the House since 2016. He was known for supporting Donald Trump, including during Trump's first impeachment in 2019. Johnson also spread unproven claims about election fraud in the 2020 election.

He led a group of over 100 House Republicans who supported a lawsuit trying to overturn the election results in four key states, which was quickly rejected by the Supreme Court.

In the end, it's a concern that someone with Johnson's history of challenging election results is now in a position of power in the House of Representatives. People worry about what this might mean for the integrity of future elections and the peaceful transition of power between presidents.