2022 Michigan gubernatorial campaign In 2021, Johnson announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the
governor of Michigan. He launched his campaign in January 2021 with a $1.5 million
advertising campaign that was featured during the
2021 Super Bowl. Johnson did not meet the requirement of 15,000 valid signatures necessary to appear on the ballot after it was found that 9,400 of the signatures his campaign submitted were invalid and fraudulent. He filed suit in federal court to halt the ballot printing so he could argue why he should be included on the ballot, but he and two other candidates, Michael Markey and
James Craig, had their appeals to remain on the ballot rejected by the state Supreme Court, which reiterated their fraudulent nature, with signatures harvested by paid circulators. In total, Johnson spent $7,000,000 of his own money in his failed bid for the Republican nomination. Johnson "applauded the charges."
2024 presidential campaign }} Johnson ran a
Super Bowl commercial in
Iowa on
February 12, 2023, announcing his intention to run for
president in 2024. On March 2, 2023, Johnson formally announced his bid, filling out a
Federal Election Commission filing. Johnson consistently struggled with achieving the donor and polling requirements outlined by the
Republican National Committee, and actively pursued ways to circumvent them. This includes an attempt to increase the number of people donating to his campaign by selling $1 t-shirts on
Facebook saying "I stand with
Tucker" and counting each sale as a donation to his campaign. Additionally, the Johnson campaign handed out $10 gas-cards to anyone willing to make a $1 donation to his campaign. Johnson was also accused by
Semafor of paying media companies to pay attention to his campaign namely engaging in a "pay-to-play" agreement with
Newsmax.
Vivek Ramaswamy claimed that a similar offer was made to him, and he rejected it.
Newsmax has denied both the claim from Ramaswamy and the claims about Johnson. Johnson spent over $2,000,000 in campaign ads prior to the first Republican national debate and claimed to have qualified for the debate on August 18, 2023, and claimed to have had a meeting with
Fox News to do a rehearsal and walk-through of the debate process on August 22, only to receive a call on August 23 stating that he didn't qualify. Johnson submitted polls from two companies, The Trafalgar Group and Victory Insights, that at face value met the proper requirements. However, the only accredited poll that Johnson saw a 1% return, would be disqualified due to the RNC stating that the pollster, Victory Insights, did not meet their criteria. Johnson's campaign also submitted three polls, one national and two local, by the
Trafalgar Group, however, the national poll was not accepted by the RNC for having a sample size smaller than 800. As such, Johnson did not appear at the debate. In response to this, alongside
Larry Elder who also submitted the Trafalgar poll and failed to qualify, Johnson stated he would pursue legal action against the RNC and demanded the resignation of RNC chairwoman
Ronna McDaniel. Johnson claimed to have met the 50,000 donor requirement to attend the second Republican debate, however, "he is all but invisible in the polls" and did not qualify. Johnson suspended his campaign for president on October 20, 2023 citing a lack of movement in the polls, and his failure to qualify for either of the debates. He endorsed Donald Trump. Trump commended Johnson for giving a "valiant effort" in the primaries and said the endorsement was a "great honor."
2024 Republican National Convention speaker Johnson spoke at the
2024 Republican National Convention saying that "[Trump] has the heart of a lion, the brain of a genius" and that "I am ready to do whatever is necessary to get Trump back in the White House." He also would later speak at the
Michigan Republican Party's 2025 convention.
2026 Michigan gubernatorial campaign On January 26, 2026, Johnson announced his candidacy for
governor of Michigan in the
2026 election. == Political positions ==