Mike Johnson Has a Racist Election Conspiracy He Admits He Can’t Prove

At a press conference Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson pushed a right-wing conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants are voting in elections—and then in the same breath admitted that there was no proof.

Johnson was speaking about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, introduced by Republicans Wednesday in the House of Representatives and the Senate, which would require proof of citizenship to be able to vote in elections.

“We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number,” Johnson said.

Speaker Mike Johnson: "We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it's not been something that's easily provable. We don't have that number."

Sounds legit. pic.twitter.com/UpYazQkahX

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2024

Johnson claimed the new bill would allow states to track instances of illegal voting and would give them the ability to enforce the law against such instances. But the idea that “a lot of illegals” vote in elections is a longstanding right-wing myth, repeated without proof by personalities such as Elon Musk and far-right members of Congress like Byron Donalds. Statistics show that less than 1 percent of noncitizens even attempt to register to vote.

So why repeat it? It seems to be a recurring pattern for Republicans to scare up votes by demonizing immigrants. It hasn’t worked the last few elections, though, and this time around, Trump and the GOP even scuttled a border security bill out of fears it would be good for Biden, making it clear to voters that Republican rhetoric is merely theater. They want to use fear about immigration to win in 2024 so they can enact more laws like the Muslim ban and streamline deportations.