A Guide to Telling Denver Mayor Mike Johnston From Speaker Mike Johnson

The funniest thing Denver Mayor Mike Johnston did during his first 100 days in office — which officially ended on October 25 — is clarify that he is not, in fact, new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

“The ‘T’ makes a big difference,” Johnston posted yesterday on X, formerly Twitter.

Since October 3, when Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker, the U.S. House of Representatives had gone without a leader. After many failed attempts to elect a new speaker — including antics from Colorado’s own Ken Buck and Lauren Boebert — Johnson ended up with the job.

This is extremely confusing for everyone in Denver who now has two prominent Mike Js on their airwaves, newspapers and web pages.

Luckily, Westword is here to help: We’ve compiled a list of five ways to tell the difference between Johnson and Johnston (which is also not the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson).

Their Politics

As Johnston said in his X post, the two Mikes are very far apart on the political spectrum.

“I am neither running for speaker, trying to overturn a lawful election, nor roll back abortion rights and LGBTQ protections,” he blasted.

Johnson — as Johnston pointed out — has a record of attempting to criminalize abortion. He has posted on social media that he is working to bring the number of abortions in his home state of Louisiana down to zero. He also ran a bill last year called the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act," which critics described as a national version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“The Democrat Party and their cultural allies are on a misguided crusade to immerse young children in sexual imagery and radical gender ideology,” Johnson said in a press release at the time. “This commonsense bill is straightforward.”

The legislation would have banned the use of federal funds “to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes." In its definitions, it classified sexual orientation and gender identity in the same pot with pornography and stripping. Those in opposition, like the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, argued the bill would criminalize LGBTQ identities.

Just to be clear, I’m Mike Johnston with a “T”

I am neither running for speaker, trying to overturn a lawful election, nor roll back abortion rights and LGBTQ protections.

The “T” makes a big difference.

— Mayor Mike Johnston (@MikeJohnstonCO) October 25, 2023

Denver’s Johnston, by contrast, held an LGBTQ meet-and-greet during his runoff campaign and pledged to protect abortion providers and patients on his campaign website.

Lastly, Speaker Johnson was part of the group of Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 election.

During his bid for speaker, his allies — including Boebert — jeered at a reporter who attempted to ask Johnson about that vote.

In 2019, Johnston released a Voters ‘ Bill of Rights that included strengthening election protections, has been known to call democracy an act of love and, when he lost an election in 2013 declared “Democracy is not always easy, but it is always right."

Their Outfit Choices

If you want to know which Mike is which, look no further than what color button-ups they're wearing.

Johnston exudes what is known to some as “Colorado fancy." The mayor can almost always be found wearing a light blue button-up with khakis or blue jeans and his signature Denver belt buckle. For formal events, he’ll add a navy blue suit jacket or even a tie into the mix.

Basically, Johnston dresses like every other white, 24-55-year-old man in Denver who works an office job.

He’s Denver’s answer to Broadway’s Aaron Tveit (Johnston, as a former theater kid, will know we mean this with the utmost respect). His belt buckle sets Johnston apart from the crowd, but one can’t help but wonder if he might have another one lying around to shake things up every once in a while.

Louisiana's Johnson, meanwhile, appears to have a lack of fashion taste. He wears glasses, which is probably the most interesting thing about his appearance. Otherwise, it seems to be a black or navy suit, white button-up and a tie. Even on Instagram, this man is buttoned up tight.

He put on jeans but kept the suit jacket for this visit to a farm:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Speaker Mike Johnson (@speakermjohnson)

Their Pre-politics Work

The only thing the Mikes do have in common about their pre-politics lives is that they both ran schools.

Well, sort of.

In 2010, Johnson became the dean of the law school at Louisiana College, a Southern Baptist school. However, the law school never actually opened or gained accreditation, and he resigned in 2012.

Before getting into politics, Johnston was a school principal in Colorado, including at the Marvin Foote Detention Center in Centennial, where incarcerated students go to school. He helped found the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton. That school actually opened its doors, unlike Johnson’s law school.

Denver’s Johnston first dipped his toes into the political realm when he became an educational advisor to Barrack Obama during Obama’s 2008 presidential run. Immediately before running for mayor, Johnston ran Gary Community Ventures — a foundation dedicated to children and families in Colorado.

Prior to his election as a state representative in 2015, Johnson spent time as a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF is a Christian-rights legal group that has represented two infamous Coloradans: Jack Phillips, the anti-gay-marriage cake baker, and Lorie Smith, the anti-gay-marriage website designer.

Johnson participated in a press conference announcing Phillips's case to the country. With the ADF, he worked on legal cases defending Louisiana’s same-sex marriage ban. Johnson also worked as counsel for Louisiana Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization.

How Much They Actually Get Done

Though Mayor Mike has only been in office 100 days, he’s accomplished plenty.

Mainly, Johnston has been focused on his House1000 plan, in which he aims to house 1,000 people experiencing homelessness by the end of the year.

He’s building micro-communities that people currently living on the streets can move into and has declared an ongoing homelessness emergency. Johnston has also hired several new department heads, is currently working with Denver City Council on the city’s 2024 budget and has announced grants to reinvigorate downtown Denver.
Speaker Johnson has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2016, but doesn’t have a ton of sponsored legislation that’s actually been successful. According to the U.S. House of Representatives website, he’s proposed 65 bills as a sponsor since 2021 (the earliest date the tracker extends to). Of those, only three have become law. He’s co-sponsored 662 in that time frame, twenty of which have become law.

Two of those laws concern the issuance of commemorative coins, which may have been printed in Denver, as the Mile High City is home to the United States Mint.

If They Are a Podcast Host or Not

Finally, we have an easy one to help you out.

Though Mayor Johnston has occasionally been a podcast guest, he’s not a podcast host. Johnson, however, co-hosts a podcast with his wife, Kelly Johnson, called Truth Be Told.

The Johnsons “present thoughtful analysis of hot topics and current events from a Christian perspective — and interviews with some of the most influential people in politics, law, the media, the church, and other arenas,” according to their podcast website. The last episode aired on October 6.

So, if you need to check which Mike is which, ask him if he can recommend a great microphone for creating a podcast. If he says yes, it just might be Speaker Johnson.