Brad Johnson (born March 6, 1951) is an American politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. A member of the Republican Party, he is the present chairman of the

Montana Public Service Commission The Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) is a quasi-judicial regulatory board of elected officials in the U.S. state of Montana. The PSC regulates private, investor-owned natural gas, electric, telephone, water and private sewer companies doing ...

Biography

Born in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...

, he graduated from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

(Class of 1976) before moving to Montana in 1980. He owned an auto parts store and worked for

RightNow Technologies Oracle RightNow is a customer relationship management (CRM) software service for enterprise organizations which is part of Oracle Service. It was originally developed by RightNow Technologies, Inc., which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 20 ...

in Bozeman. He also served as a district representative for Congressman

Ron Marlenee Ronald Charles Marlenee (August 8, 1935 – April 26, 2020) was a Republican politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from the U.S. state of Montana from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 1993. He represented . Early life ...

and worked as an

agricultural extension Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for r ...

agent. Johnson challenged Democratic Congressman Pat Williams in 1990 and ran for the Republican nomination for

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 2002 before he was elected

Secretary of State of Montana The Secretary of State of Montana is one of the elected constitutional officers of executive branch of the U.S. state of Montana. The current Secretary of State is Christi Jacobsen. Organization The Secretary of State's Office is composed of f ...

in 2004, defeating

Yellowstone County Yellowstone County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 164,731. Its county seat is Billings. Yellowstone County is named for the Yellowstone River which roughly bisects the county ...

Commissioner Bill Kennedy. He lost reelection to state Superintendent of Public Instruction

Linda McCulloch Linda McCulloch (born December 21, 1954) is an American politician who is formerly the secretary of state of Montana. She was the first woman to serve in that post. She left her previous post as state superintendent of public instruction due to ...

in 2008. Johnson withdrew from the race for Public Service Commissioner in 2010 after pleading guilty to

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

Broadwater County Broadwater County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 6,774. Its county seat is Townsend, Montana, Townsend. The county was named for Charles Arth ...

. He subsequently entered an alcohol treatment program. He ran for Secretary of State in 2012, but again lost to McCulloch. Johnson was elected Public Service Commissioner for District 5 in 2014, defeating Democrat Galen Hollenbaugh, and was chosen to be chairman of the commission by his colleagues. He announced his candidacy for

Governor of Montana The governor of Montana is the head of government of MontanaMontana Constitution, Article VI, Section 4. and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either approve or veto ...

in the 2016 election, but withdrew from the race in January citing fundraising concerns and commitment to his duties on the Public Service Commission.

Electoral history

References

External links

Montana Public Service Commission: About Brad Johnson, ChairmanBrad Johnson at Ballotpedia
profile , - 1951 births Businesspeople from Montana Living people Montana Republicans People from Lake Forest, Illinois People from Lewis and Clark County, Montana Secretaries of State of Montana University of Illinois alumni {{Montana-politician-stub