Jan. 6 'Podium Guy' Running for Office in Florida

The man once photographed grinning with Nancy Pelosi's lectern is now asking voters to hand him an official one. Adam Johnson, dubbed "Podium Guy" or "Lectern Guy" after an image of him carrying the then-House speaker's lectern during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack went viral, has filed to run for the District 6 seat on the Manatee County Commission in Florida, USA Today reports. Johnson was arrested after the riot and pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor, but President Trump pardoned Johnson in January 2025 during a sweeping round of clemencies on inauguration day. As for the lectern, it was returned to Pelosi and later used when she signed the impeachment article against Trump.

Johnson is mounting a Republican primary challenge to incumbent Commissioner Jason Bearden, who won the seat with almost 62% of the GOP vote in 2022. On his campaign site, Johnson casts himself as an "America First" candidate focused on local issues: lowering living costs for working families, managing growth and infrastructure, easing traffic, and rooting out what he calls "corrupt deals" and wasteful county contracts. "For too long, the forgotten conservative has watched county government waste money, cut corrupt deals, and ignore the problems that matter to working families," he says on the site. He filed to run for the seat on the 5-year anniversary of the Capitol riot, the Tampa Bay Times reports. So far, four other Republicans have filed to run in the Aug. 18 GOP primary.

Johnson, who grew up in Tennessee and has long lived in southwest Florida, previously worked as a cook, had financial problems before divorcing his first wife and later remarried a physician, and saw his finances improve after the couple bought and sold a home at a profit, according to earlier reporting based on public records. Court and police documents show past misdemeanor marijuana charges and a probation violation in his younger years, as well as an eviction. His political activism has already extended to the courthouse. In March 2025, Johnson sued Manatee County and six commissioners, accusing them of acting "corruptly" by declining to seek legal fees from former commissioner and local news publisher Joe McClash after a lawsuit over scrapped wetlands protections.