Washington Mardi Gras always brings the glitz and glamour to the sober-minded national capital, but this year, it's offering an added element: A healthy dose of celebrity.
And I’m not talking about the event’s ceremonial king, Drew Brees.
For Louisianans who came for the political networking as much as the party, the real star of this year’s show isn’t the legendary Saints quarterback but a guy named Mike Johnson from Benton, just outside Shreveport.
If Brees’ history of overcoming long odds is well known, consider Johnson’s story.
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U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, talks about Louisiana's energy future at the 2024 Economic Development Luncheon held during the Washington Mardi Gras at the Washington Hilton on Friday, January 26, 2024.
The last time I made it to Washington Mardi Gras, in 2017, Johnson was the most junior member in the entire U.S. House. Literally.
Speaking then at the annual economic development lunch staged by local chambers of commerce, he noted that Louisiana’s unusual December runoff and the alphabet — which put him behind even fellow newcomer Clay Higgins in seniority — had conspired against him.
"If you ever wanted to meet the lowest-ranked member of Congress, I'll be right over there," Johnson said. "Come by our tiny, tiny office. We'll roll out the little red rug for you."
Let’s just say that the red carpet is much bigger these days, and throughout the long weekend celebration, it’s being rolled out for Johnson and his very visible security team.
Johnson, of course, overcame relative obscurity — actually, he most likely benefited from it — to be elected Louisiana’s first House speaker late last year, after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy and couldn’t coalesce around other prospects such as Steve Scalise, the Jefferson congressman who remains the House's second highest-ranking Republican and who is missing this year’s gathering while undergoing cancer treatment.
So this year, Johnson’s the man.
He gets to speak first at most events, ahead of the state’s two senators. And while his situation may be precarious, with his caucus members at each others’ throats and his majority as narrow as they come, he’s been pretty positive and somewhat philosophical about his situation.
At a reception at the French ambassador’s home Wednesday, for instance, Johnson noted the recent birthday of French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, who first conceived of the three branches — executive, legislative and judiciary — that form the basis of the U.S. government.
“It has been a great innovation for us,” Johnson said. Then, to knowing chuckles: “We’ll see. it’s still an experiment.”
While he has generally held the place of honor at the various official events, opinions may vary on whether that applied to his table assignment at the Thursday king’s luncheon honoring Brees. Johnson found himself surrounded by young women wearing towering tiaras, each depicting the theme of the Louisiana festival that had crowned her queen.
Johnson did stay the whole time and seemed to enjoy chitchatting with his seatmates — the Louisiana Cotton Queen, the Delcambre Shrimp Queen and the rest. They, in turn, appeared suitably starstruck.
Perhaps not as much as some other folks in D.C., who would likely have paid big bucks for that kind of face time with Johnson.
In the subtext
The most interesting part of the annual economic development lunch where Johnson introduced himself seven short years ago is often the short speeches by members of the state’s congressional delegation, and this year’s lunch Friday was no different.
As usual, they celebrated the bipartisan unity the event brings to a city riven by bitter partisanship and noted that there’s more that unites Louisianans than divides them.
And as sometimes happens, the divides showed anyway.
Some nods to underlying political conflict were pretty understated.
Johnson, for example, didn’t name Donald Trump or Joe Biden, but made it perfectly clear that he’s hoping to be working alongside a different administration this time next year.
U.S. Sen Bill Cassidy, meanwhile, talked like an outright evangelist for Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which he played a heavy role in writing and promoting. Left unsaid, but perfectly well understood in this room, was that every other Republican in the delegation voted against it, mostly arguing that it wouldn’t do enough to benefit Louisiana.
Cassidy's speech came off as a direct response to that charge.
“Louisiana’s gotten $9 billion-plus for our state. So far, $3.6 billion for roads and bridges, $1.4 billion going to make sure that everybody has access to high-speed affordable internet…,” Cassidy said. He added that he’d just been speaking with someone from Bossier Parish, who noted that Mike Johnson’s area doesn’t have high-speed affordable internet.
“I said, 'Well, he’s going to get done last, so everybody knows there’s no favoritism,'” Cassidy quipped.
Reading the seating
Significantly less subtle was U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, the Baton Rouge Republican for whom politics have become very, very personal of late.
Graves lost his safe House district just last week when the Legislature created a second majority Black seat under implicit orders from a federal judge, who has said the existing maps likely violate the Voting Rights Act.
As attorney general, new Gov. Jeff Landry had fought plans to redraw the map, which would give Black residents who make up about a third of the state’s population a chance to elect two members out of six, rather than the current one. Doing so is likely to flip one of Louisiana’s five Republican seats to a Democrat.
But last week, Landry endorsed a new map, which will give his Democratic ally state Sen. Cleo Fields a chance to go to Congress, while protecting Johnson, Scalise and U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, a popular member of the Appropriations Committee — and force Graves to run either in a Democratic-leaning district or against one of his fellow Republicans.
That he wound up as odd man out was entirely predictable. Graves was widely seen as insufficiently supportive of Scalise’s speaker bid, and he endorsed another Republican against Landry last year.
That he’s vowing to fight on and stay in Congress somehow, either by supporting efforts to get the new map thrown out or running against Fields or a fellow Republican, is also not particularly surprising.
But maybe his direct reference to his predicament Friday was.
Graves said he always loves coming to this event, but this year he went to his usual table and saw different people there.
“And I think, 'What in the world’s going on?’ So I look at the seating chart, and it said, 'Compliments of the Louisiana Legislature,'” he said.
The crowd wasn’t quite sure how to react to it all, although people eventually laughed and applauded. Graves then added that when he looked at the table list, he thought, “Ah, the governor, he wanted me right here.”
That drew more laughter, including from Landry, who was seated nearby.
Whether they’ll all still be laughing once the party is over is another question.