Adam Johnson, a 41-year-old man who became a bit of a meme after he was photographed carrying Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) lectern through the U.S. Capitol during Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, is now running for office in Florida.
Filing documents available on the Manatee County website show that Johnson filed Jan. 6, the five-year anniversary of the incident, to run for the county’s board of commissioners. He’s running for the District 6 at-large seat.
Johnson was arrested just days after the deadly 2021 riot, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
At the time, he was 36 years old. He was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
“It is alleged that on Jan. 6, 2021, Johnson illegally entered the United States Capitol and removed the Speaker of the House’s lectern from where it had been stored on the House side of the Capitol building,” said the DOJ. “A search of open sources led law enforcement to Johnson, who is allegedly seen in a widely circulated photo inside the Capitol carrying the lectern.”
In a deal with prosecutors, Axios noted that Johnson pleaded guilty to a charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds in a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 75 days in jail as well as a year of probation, plus fines and restitution. However, President Donald Trump pardoned Johnson and around 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants last year after he began his second term.
Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally held the same day as the riot is associated with it. Britannica describes the event as a “storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Republican Pres. Donald J. Trump,” that disrupted a joint session of Congress held to approve electoral votes for former President Joe Biden. Trump has claimed that the 2020 election that Biden won was stolen from him.
A new White House webpage claims “the Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters as ‘insurrectionists’ and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump,” it reads.
ABC News and The Washington Post have both described the page as an attempt to “rewrite history.”
“They’ve pardoned worse people,” said Johnson of himself after the pardons were announced last year, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune.
As for Johnson’s run in Manatee County, Axios described it as “the latest example of the narrative shift around Jan. 6 during the second Trump administration.”
According to U.S. Census Bureau records, Manatee County (part of the Sarasota metropolitan area) had a population of 458,352 as of summer 2024. Florida Politics reported that the District 6 at-large seat is currently held by Commissioner Jason Bearden and said he has “far-right-wing principles,” as well as a “tough stance against local overdevelopment.”
“Johnson’s entry into the Manatee County Commission race raises questions about how voters will react to his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” and whether they support Bearden’s approach to the position, Florida Politics said.
Florida Politics also said that a commitment to Trump could work in Johnson’s favor in the “deep-red” county. Johnson will run against Republicans Tony Barrett, John B. Calovich, Anthony C. Drake and Edward J. Ference during the GOP Primary. It said Bearden has not yet filed for re-election.
“Why Johnson decided to run, and what he hopes to accomplish if elected, were unclear Wednesday,” said Axios. “He did not return multiple requests for comment, including phone calls, messages and a visit to his Parrish home.”