Five Louisiana congressional candidates, including U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, filed for November’s election using disconnected phone numbers, according to state listings.

The phone number on the 56th Speaker of the House’s formal notice of candidacy, filed with the Louisiana Secretary of State, appears digitally keyed in as “(000)-(000)-(0000).” He inked the affidavit on July 20, complete with a notary’s seal.

When dialed, a canned recording informs callers "Your call cannot be completed as dialed." Though the phone number is listed as a string of 0s in his paper filing, his number appears as “(555) 555-5555” on the secretary of state’s candidate website. This phone number also rings to a dead end.

Johnson, a lawyer by trade, is an outspoken advocate of strict voter ID laws, including the SAVE Act. The proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility law would require Americans to provide additional documentation to register to vote, and attest to its accuracy under penalty of perjury. 

While Johnson’s campaign website prompts visitors for a phone number “Text WIN to 56056” to receive election information, it does not list a contact phone number for his campaign office. 

In total, eight Louisiana candidates have the placeholder phone number listed on the state’s website. 

Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana President Steven Procopio said non-working contact information is troublesome for citizens and other officials alike. 

“It is certainly not in the spirit of the law,” he said. “The idea is that you are running for an elected office, so you are a public figure, and the idea of having the contact information is so citizens or elected officials can get in touch with you.”

Johnson’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Johnson is not the only candidate with an inoperative number, but he appears to be the most prominent. Good-government watchdogs say this is particularly concerning for a top-level official. If challenged, the filing could carry legal consequences.

Congressional candidates Kate Cotton, Stewart Cathey Jr., Pat Forbes and Stephen Wagley appear on the Secretary of State’s website with a “555” number. In other state races, the state’s site lists Stephanie Hilferty, Angela Hershey and Ellen Creel with that phone number.

Forbes said he used the phone number because he filed prior to obtaining a telephone number for his campaign. Likewise, Hershey said she does not have a campaign office. “I reply or contact anyone that emails me either by phone or email at their request,” she responded.

Cathey, Cotton, Creel, Hilferty and Wagley did not respond to requests for comment. 

The Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Public policy experts say the state typically assumes candidate filings are accurate unless challenged.

Legal and Ethical Questions

Dillard University Public Policy Professor Robert Collins says a false phone number could have repercussions.

“When false information is placed on the qualifying form, it can lead to disqualification of the candidate,” he said. “But that has to be done by a judge. Not by the clerk.”

In May, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Louisiana’s congressional races were cancelled. The high court's conservative majority found districts redrawn in 2024 unconstitutional under the Voting Rights Act because the maps factored in race, creating a second minority district in the state. 

The races were scrapped entirely. Officials scrambled to redraw districts and candidates had to qualify again during the first week of August for the fall election.

That means candidates filed qualifying paperwork twice. Johnson’s phone number was listed on the state’s election website as 555-5555 in the cancelled election. The speaker’s signature appears on the affidavit of candidacy signed in July — corresponding with the second election — with the number “(000)-(000)-(0000).”

The final attestation, just above the Johnson’s signature, reads: “All statements contained herein are true and correct.” 

Public Accessibility

For Rosalind Cook, with the League of Women Voters, the dead end phone numbers make it difficult to complete the organization’s voter guide.

“When we’re putting together a voters guide we would like a reliable number,” she said. “That is something we frown upon of course.”

It’s happened before, said Cook, who has served with the League of Women Voters for three decades and is the president of the New Orleans chapter. 

“We called up the number they’d given the Secretary of State's office and the individual would say, ‘Oh that’s my ex-husband or that’s my relative’,” she recounted. 

But she doesn’t recall encountering a number that rings to a dead end.

Professor J. Celeste Lay teaches at Tulane University’s Political Science Department. She reviewed the notarized filings for the 4th Congressional District.

“Initially I thought well this has to be a mistake,” she said, after seeing formatted candidate listing information on the secretary of state’s website. But after reviewing copies of the official documents, “It’s very clearly the number that they’ve given.” 

“It’s highly undemocratic,” she said.

“These are our representatives and we should be able to contact them and express an opinion or to ask a question to the people we elect to any office. If they purposely make it impossible for constituents to call them that seems to be a violation of the public trust.”

Voting is the primary way to hold elected officials accountable, she tells her students: “One of the things that leads to protest behavior outside of the normal election political behavior is when people feel like they have no other way to express their preferences or have no way to get in touch with their members or their members aren’t listening to them.” 

“This is kind of the ultimate sign that this elected official does not care what you have to say, does not want to hear from you.”

A Challenge

The Secretary of State’s database allows voters to search by parish, regional and state races, as well as by specific candidate. Candidate information is uniformly listed with contact information and party affiliation. It is unclear how the information on notarized notices of candidacy is entered into the site and why Johnson’s number differs from the one provided on his filing.

Collins, the public policy professor, said any charge of false information would have to come from the public.

“Usually, what happens if someone catches false information, a voter will bring a lawsuit in court and request to have the candidate disqualified,” he explained. “Then it’s up to the judge to decide whether or not the infraction warrants disqualification.”

“It might be an accident, or it might be intentional,” Collins said. “That’s up for the court to decide.”

According to La. R.S. 18:1401, the state law governing election contests and challenges, if a court finds that “a candidate knowingly attested to false information in a notice of candidacy,” it can result in fees or other sanctions.

If the filing was examined under public records law, which states “Any document containing a false statement or false representation of a material fact,” and found to be in violation of state public records law, the penalty could result in prison time or a fee of up to $5,000. 

As Johnson seeks his sixth term, Lay couldn’t help but think he has filled out the qualifying form that many times.

“There’s no way he doesn’t have a phone number,” Lay said. “I think it’s a symbol of his lack of openness to his constituents and what they need.”

More about my reporting and why I started Lamplighter News. 

Want to support Lamplighter? Venmo @Marta-Jewson or forward this email to a friend!