Nerdy South Dakota Republican Is Quiet Power Behind the Speaker

Speaker Mike Johnson is the face of GOP leadership. But another man with the same last name is quietly helping shape a legislative agenda to power Republicans through the election and beyond.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, South Dakota’s sole House member, is far from a household name. He’s known around Capitol Hill for his unabashed nerdiness, rattling off facts about crypto and cattle markets with ease. And he’s been a fixture in the speaker’s office from Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) tumultuous short tenure to Speaker Johnson’s (R-La.) rise.

“You don’t see him on TV every day,” said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), a close Johnson ally and his right-hand woman on the economy-focused Main Street Caucus. “You don’t see him lobbing grenades at the other side, although he has a few times when things get rough and he wants to point out the failures of this administration. But I think he’s incredibly effective.”

Johnson doesn’t chair a committee or hold one of the conference’s top leadership roles. Still, he’s consistently in the room for major GOP negotiations. The South Dakotan is sticking around as his fellow mainstream Republicans — leaders like Reps. Patrick McHenry (N.C.) and Garret Graves (La.) who’ve made their names as deal makers — head for the exits. If Republicans manage to keep the House, or even if they don’t, in November, he’s positioning himself as an architect for the conservative legislative agenda.

His relationship with leadership gives him a seat at the table as Congress tries to cobble together a short-term patch to fund the government past the end of this month and avert a fall shutdown. It won’t be an easy task, as conservative dissidents oppose Speaker Johnson’s six month continuing resolution and as ex-President Donald Trump publicly agitates for closing the government down unless Republicans can tie the stopgap measure to a provision barring undocumented immigrants from voting.

Johnson’s fundraising prowess and his aversion to costly and largely unpopular shutdowns put him in a position to help the party avoid political landmines right before November elections.

The most rebellious House Republicans have dominated headlines throughout the 118th Congress. When eight Republican dissidents forced McCarthy out of the speakership last year, or when Freedom Caucus members tanked procedural votes on the floor, the media paid attention. At the same time, Johnson was one of the policy-focused lawmakers working behind the scenes to help craft conservative policies and determine the GOP House’s path forward.

Johnson’s impact on the House largely happens behind closed doors. He says that’s the way he likes it.

“One of the things that has allowed me to be really effective behind the scenes is that I don’t have any particular ambition,” Johnson said in an interview. “I’m not in competition with anybody for anything. I don’t view my work here as a zero sum game. I want to get things done.”

Despite Johnson’s proclaimed lack of ambition, his fellow Republicans see him as a rising star in the GOP, possibly a future governor. That will depend on how well he can continue to sell his brand of fiscal conservatism in a party some see moving away from traditional policy and toward personality-driven loyalty to ex-President Donald Trump.

“Increasingly, Representative Johnson is having to take some views that are more Trumpian in nature in order to remain the party’s nominee and to fend off primary challengers, because in their view, he’s not conservative enough,” said Michael Card, a University of South Dakota professor who taught political science while Johnson went there in the ‘90s. “And actually, although he might be a moderate in Congress, I think he’s quite conservative.”

‘Singles and Doubles’

The Main Street Caucus chairman refers to himself as a “pragmatic” Republican, using incremental wins to get conservative policies enacted.

“In the era of divided government, you’re just not going to be able to hit home runs — and people who try are going to strike out,” Johnson said. “We really understand what it means to go get singles and doubles every single week around here.”

That strategy runs counter to the Freedom Caucus’ all-or-nothing power moves. Johnson, not usually rattled, is still smarting from the McCarthy ouster that threw the House into chaos for weeks last year. He’s slammed members of his party who say they’ll never vote for a continuing resolution, which has been needed multiple times to keep the government open. And when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tried to oust Speaker Johnson earlier this year, he held a press conference opposing the effort in Greene’s favorite spot on the House steps.

Johnson was involved in crafting the continuing resolutions that kept the government open while demanding concessions from Democrats. He led the charge on ocean shipping changes as part of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and helped legislation to force TikTok to divest from its China-owned parent.

As chairman of the Agriculture Committee’s commodity markets panel, Johnson has also been a key player in bills that haven’t become law, but would have a much better shot if Republicans take full control of Washington next year, like the trillion-dollar farm bill and a cryptocurrency regulation framework that some Democrats say is too industry-friendly.

“He’s whip smart, understands agriculture, understands rural America, and he’s a consensus builder,” said House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.). “He brings people to the table.”

‘Meat and Potatoes Guy’

As the Republican party moves toward populism and culture wars, Johnson tends to focus more on traditional conservative issues like reducing the national debt. He considers himself a “meat and potatoes guy.” The bills he’s sponsored this Congress have dealt with local issues like access to guns for Tribal police departments and reinstating country of origin labeling for beef.

But even though it’s not a major part of his brand, Johnson hasn’t fought the party’s culture war agenda. He’s supported banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, has an A+ rating on the scorecard of the Susan B. Anthony anti-abortion group, and voted against a bill protecting same-sex marriage.

His Democratic critics question his more temperate image.

“When he’s out in public, and he’s in a general public, he’s much more moderate,” said Dan Ahlers, the executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party. “When he sends out his newsletters, he skews way to the right, so he kind of tailors his message to whoever he thinks his audience is.”

Republicans have had a stronghold over South Dakota for decades, so any real threat to Johnson would come from the right. He handily defeated primary challengers the past two cycles by highlighting his conservative bona fides and positioning himself as a Republican who can get things done in Congress.

It helps that he’s a fundraising powerhouse. Excluding McCarthy, who’s no longer in the House but has an active campaign committee, Johnson’s campaign had the sixth-most cash on hand — $4.6 million — in the House Republican Conference as of June 30. Of those top six, Johnson and Rep. Darin LaHood (Ill.) are the only ones who don’t chair a committee or hold a top leadership position.

Johnson is viewed as a possible contender for governor in 2026, when current Gov. Kristi Noem’s (R) term ends. He could also make a run for the Senate if one in the state’s delegation retires, but Johnson insists he doesn’t see himself as a DC lifer.

“I view my time in Congress a little bit like a deployment,” Johnson said. “I think you need to parachute in, I think you need to do the work, I think you need to have the pedal to the metal, I think you need to give everything you’ve got. I think you should do that for eight or 10 years and then I think you should go do something else.”