Constance Nevlin Johnson (born May 11, 1952) is an American politician from the U.S. state of

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. She served in the

Oklahoma Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Oklahoma County Oklahoma County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 796,292, making it the most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Oklahoma City, the state capital and ...

until 2014. She was first elected to the state senate in a special election in September 2005. Johnson became the first African American woman nominated for a major statewide office in Oklahoma and the first woman US Senate nominee from Oklahoma of any party when she won the Democratic primary run-off of the 2014 U.S. Senate election. She ran for

Governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma Executive (government), executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The gover ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, losing in the Democratic primary both times. Johnson is a member of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...

Early life and education

Born in Holdenville, Oklahoma, in 1952, she graduated from Frederick A. Douglass High School in Oklahoma City and earned a bachelor's degree in French from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, where she also completed coursework for a Masters of Science in Education. After college she worked for the Oklahoma Community Action Director's Association, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) within the City of Oklahoma City, and as the personnel assistant within the General Administrator's office of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. She graduated from

Langston University Langston University (LU) is a public land-grant historically black university in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state and the westernmost four-year public HBCU in the United States. The main campus in Lan ...

's master's in Rehabilitation Counseling Program and holds a doctorate in political science from Larry Love University.

Career in the Oklahoma State Senate

Johnson worked for the

Oklahoma State Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.fertilization Fertilisation or fertilization (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give ...

, would have offered full legal protection to all

human embryo Human embryonic development or human embryogenesis is the development and formation of the human embryo. It is characterised by the processes of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of deve ...

s. In the words of the bill, “the unborn child at every stage of development (has) all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this state.” Johnson submitted an amendment of her own to the bill, which would have added the words: :However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child. She explained that the amendment was intended to "draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity and lack of balance inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women". Her efforts were used as part of a skit that was featured on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart entitled "Bro Choice," and, in conjunction with a rally organized by the newly created Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice, led to the defeat of the proposed legislation. At the rally, Johnson was joined by fellow state senator Judy Eason McIntyre, who was pictured holding up a protest sign that read "If I wanted the government in my womb, I'd fuck a senator."

Campaign for U.S. Senate

On April 8, 2014, Johnson announced she was running in the 2014 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma. Johnson faced Patrick Hayes and perennial candidate Jim Rogers. Johnson finished first in the Democratic primary with a plurality, and faced Rogers in a runoff election. Rogers had an advantage with name recognition heading into the runoff election, having appeared numerous times on the ballot in Oklahoma. Johnson, having spent 8 years in the

Oklahoma State Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Obama for America staff member rounded out the organizational structure. Rogers' name recognition did little to combat Johnson's growing notoriety and campaign organization. Johnson won the runoff election, defeating Rogers by 14 percentage points, to face Rep. James Lankford in the general election campaign. Johnson lost the election for the unexpired term of

Tom Coburn Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and medical doctor, physician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 2005 to 2015. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, Coburn ...

to James Lankford, by a margin of 237,923 29.0% to Lankford's 557,002, 67.9%, with independent candidate Mark Beard collecting 25,965 votes, 3.2% of the total. Oklahoma had the lowest voter turnout in the country in the 2014 midterm elections with only 29% of registered voters casting a ballot.

Comprehensive marijuana reform

Johnson introduced legislation legalizing medical marijuana in 2007, and each subsequent session, in conjunction with efforts to change Oklahoma's harsh sentencing guidelines. In June 2014, Senator Johnson and attorney David Slane announced the filing of an initiative petition for a proposed amendment to the

Constitution of Oklahoma The Constitution of the State of Oklahoma is the governing document of the United States, U.S. State of Oklahoma. Adopted in 1907, Oklahoma ratified the United States Constitution on November 16, 1907, as the 46th U.S. state. At its ratificatio ...

which would legalize the possession of up to one ounce of recreational

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and three ounces of

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis or medical marijuana (MMJ) refers to Cannabis (drug), cannabis products and cannabinoid, cannabinoid molecules that are prescription drug, prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabi ...

. According to Johnson, "We’re putting forth Genesis 1:29 as the basis of this campaign. God created this wonderful, miraculous plant and we know that it has been vilified for the last 100 years, and it’s time to change that in Oklahoma." While the petition drive for the 2014 effort failed, Johnson has continued to work towards marijuana reform. She assisted with the petition to place SQ 788 legalizing medical marijuana on the ballot in 2018, and circulated a full legalization petition focused on use for agricultural, medicinal and recreational purposes.

Death penalty reform

Elected to chair the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) in 2015 and again in 2016, Johnson led the Say No To SQ 776/Think Twice Oklahoma campaign to keep the death penalty out of Oklahoma's state constitution. While the state question was predicted to pass with overwhelming support, the "Say No" effort successfully kept the win margin at 66%, vs the projected 75%, via an advocacy and education campaign that focused on conservative fiscal concerns.

Work with the Oklahoma Democratic Party

Johnson was elected vice chair of the

Oklahoma Democratic Party The Oklahoma Democratic Party (ODP) is an Oklahoma political party affiliated with the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. It and the Oklahoma Republican Party, are the state's two major parties. The party dominated local politics ...

(ODP) in May 2015 based on her belief that the party should do more to increase voting participation using specific voting strategies and more voter education. She supported the decision to allow independents to participate in the Democratic primary and has worked to re-invigorate the process for clubs representing diverse groups to have a voice on the ODP Central Committee. She was the whistle blower on a gag order that prohibited Democrats from discussing key Democratic issues such as women's reproductive health rights, immigration, death penalty abolition, and marijuana policy reform. Johnson was the only super delegate from Oklahoma to support Sen.

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

at the Democratic National Convention. Senator Sanders won Oklahoma by 10+ percentage points, and carried 75 of 77 counties in the Oklahoma Democratic Primary in 2016.

Oklahoma gubernatorial campaigns

2018

Johnson ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for

. She won 38.6% of votes to elect a Democratic candidate for governor in the Oklahoma statewide primary held on June 26, 2018, losing to former Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson who won 61.4% of votes.

2022

On May 17, 2021, Johnson filed to run for governor once again in

, to challenge Republican incumbent

Kevin Stitt John Kevin Stitt (born December 28, 1972) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 28th governor of Oklahoma since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2018, defeating Democrat and former state Attorney Ge ...

. On June 28, 2022, Johnson lost the Democratic primary to Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister.

2024 Oklahoma Senate campaign

Johnson ran for the

Oklahoma Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

Councilor Nikki Nice. Johnson lost the primary election to Nice.

References

External links

Campaign website

Constance N. Johnson (OK)
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Oklahoma Democratic Party
(ODP)
Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Women of the Oklahoma Legislature Oral History Collection
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Constance N. 1952 births 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American state legislators in Oklahoma Candidates in the 2014 United States elections Candidates in the 2018 United States elections Candidates in the 2022 United States elections Cannabis law reform in the United States Living people Democratic Party Oklahoma state senators 21st-century members of the Oklahoma Legislature Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Oklahoma People from Holdenville, Oklahoma Women state legislators in Oklahoma African-American candidates for the United States Senate Candidates in the 2024 United States elections