Ruth Johnson (born January 8, 1955) is an American politician who served as the Secretary of State of Michigan and is a current member of the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

for State Senate District 14. She is a former member of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

and the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

candidate for

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

as the running mate of

Dick DeVos Richard Marvin DeVos Jr. (born October 21, 1955) is an American businessman and author. The son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, he served as CEO of the multi-level marketing company from 1993 to 2002. In 2006, DeVos ran for Governor of ...

Background

Johnson, of

Holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, was a former public school teacher and small business owner,

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

and

register of deeds Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over ...

Oakland County Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...

, a suburban area immediately north of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

with a population of more than one million, prior to her election as secretary of state in November 2010. She was elected clerk of Oakland County in 2004, upsetting incumbent G. William Caddell in the Republican Primary and defeated Democratic nominee Jason Ellenburg in the general election. She became the first woman clerk in Oakland County's 176-year history. In August 2006, Johnson was selected by Grand Rapids businessman and Republican gubernatorial nominee

as his running mate, becoming the GOP nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. DeVos and Johnson lost the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

to the incumbent Democratic ticket of Gov.

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American lawyer, educator, author, political commentator, and politician serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she pre ...

and Lt. Gov. John Cherry. In 2007, Johnson endorsed Sen.

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

's bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and served as the Oakland County Chair for McCain's Michigan campaign. Johnson was re-elected County Clerk in 2008, defeating Democrat Sheila Smith. Johnson was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1998, and re-elected in 2000 and 2002;

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

meant she was ineligible for a fourth term.

Secretary of State

In July 2017, Ruth Johnson agreed to provide Michigan voter registration information to a federal commission created by Trump to investigate alleged illegal voting by "millions" that he says will prove he won the popular vote in the 2016 election Johnson indicated she would only provide basic public voter information. In 2014, Michigan was named the best state in the nation for registering qualified U.S. citizens at state motor-vehicle offices, according to USA Today. Also in 2014, the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State and Urban Policy found that the Secretary of State's Office was rated the second best state agency for job performance by community leaders. That same year, the state's Mackinac Bridge license plate was named the best designed plate in the world. As secretary, Johnson promoted motorcycle safety initiatives, such as wearing high-visibility gear and encouraging riders to get a cycle endorsement. Johnson herself is a licensed motorcycle rider and often rides in to motorcycle-related news conferences. Johnson pushed her departments to foster safe driving among teens. After reviewing the department's teen driver licensing program, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offered recommendations for improvement but overall gave the program high praise for combating the leading cause of death for teens in the United States.

2018 and 2022 Michigan State Senate elections

After her tenure as Secretary of State, she was elected as a Michigan State Senator in 2018 and re-elected again in 2022. In September 2020, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State

Jocelyn Benson Jocelyn Benson (born October 22, 1977) is an American activist, politician, and former academic administrator. She is the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan. Benson is a former dean of Wayne State University Law School, a co-founder of the Mili ...

for allowing votes postmarked before election day to be counted after election day. The lawsuit was later dismissed.

2014 Secretary of State election

In 2014, Johnson defeated Detroit lawyer and Democrat Godfrey Dillard, Libertarian James Lewis, US Taxpayers Robert Gale, and Natural Law Jason Gatties to earn a second term by 10.6 percentage points, receiving 1,649,047 votes to the defeated candidates 1,431,748 votes. She drew more votes than any other Republican candidate on the ballot.

2010 Secretary of State election

In 2010, she won the Republican nomination for secretary of state at the party's state convention. Her opponents were Paul Scott,

Michelle McManus Michelle McManus (born 8 May 1980) is a Scottish singer, columnist, and television presenter who won the second and final series of the UK talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2003. McManus's debut single, " All This Time", entered the UK Singles Cha ...

, Anne Norlander and Cameron Brown. She went on to win the general election defeating Democrat

, Libertarian

Scotty Boman Scott Avery Boman (born April 14, 1962) * Edited by WDIV Staff http://clickondetroit.com (website). is an American Libertarian politician from Michigan. He has consistently earned among the top votes of any third-party candidate in every Michiga ...

, Green John Anthony La Pietra, and US Taxpayer Robert Gale.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official Secretary of State bio of JohnsonRuth Johnson for State Senate WebsiteRuth Johnson for Senate Facebook page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ruth 1955 births Living people 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians County commissioners in Michigan Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Republican Party Michigan state senators Oakland Community College alumni Oakland University alumni People from Holly, Michigan Secretaries of State of Michigan Wayne State University alumni Women state constitutional officers of Michigan Women state legislators in Michigan