Ruth Johnson (born January 8, 1955) is an American businesswoman and politician currently serving as a 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 ...

since 2019. She was the 42nd

Secretary of State of Michigan The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

from 2011 to 2019 and a 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 2020 ...

from 1999 to 2005. She is a Republican.

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, small business owner, and public official in a suburban area immediately north of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

with a population of more than one million, prior to her election as secretary of state in November 2010. She was elected to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners in 1988 and served for 10 years. Johnson was elected to the

in 1998, and re-elected in 2000 and 2002;

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

meant she was ineligible for a fourth term. She was elected Oakland County

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

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 ove ...

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. Johnson became popular for her community outreach event and parties. In August 2006, Johnson was selected by Grand Rapids businessman and Republican gubernatorial nominee Dick DeVos as his running mate, becoming the GOP nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. DeVos and Johnson lost the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

to the incumbent Democratic ticket of Gov.

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is an American politician who was the 16th United States secretary of energy from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she previously served as the 47t ...

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 statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

'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.

Secretary of State

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. Like her time as Oakland County Clerk, Ruth Johnson because popular for community outreach events, and viral marketing campaigns 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. In July 2017, Ruth Johnson agreed to provide Michigan voter registration information to a federal commission created by

Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to investigate alleged illegal voting in the 2016 election. Johnson indicated she would only provide basic public voter information.

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, Anne Norlander and Cameron Brown. She went on to win the general election defeating Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Libertarian Scotty Boman, Green John Anthony La Pietra, and US Taxpayer Robert Gale.

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.

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

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 Living people 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the Michigan Legislature 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 1955 births 20th-century members of the Michigan Legislature