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Brian Johnson (politician)

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Brian Johnson
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
from the 28A district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 8, 2013
Preceded byRoger Crawford
Personal details
Born (1961-06-27) June 27, 1961 (age 63)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseDiane
Children1
ResidenceCambridge, Minnesota
EducationHibbing Area Vocational Technical Institute (A.A.S.)
Occupation
WebsiteGovernment website Campaign website

Brian Johnson (born June 27, 1961) is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2013. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Johnson represents District 28A in eastern Minnesota, which includes the cities of Cambridge, Isanti, and North Branch, and parts of Chisago and Isanti Counties.[1][2]

Early life, education, and career

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Johnson grew up on a dairy farm and attended Cambridge High School. He graduated from Hibbing Community College, now Minnesota North College Hibbing, with an associate degree in law enforcement.[1]

Johnson worked as a firefighter and EMT in Braham and was a deputy sheriff in Isanti County for 17 years.[1]

Minnesota House of Representatives

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Johnson was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2012 and has been reelected every two years since. He first ran after redistricting and after one-term Republican incumbent Roger Crawford announced he would not seek reelection.[1] Johnson supported Jason Lewis's 2020 campaign for U.S. Senate.[3]

Johnson is the minority lead on the Housing Finance and Policy Committee and sits on the Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. He served as vice chair of the Public Safety & Security Policy and Finance Committee during the 2017 legislative session. After chair Tony Cornish resigned following multiple allegations of sexual harassment, Johnson became chair of the committee for the 2018 session.[1][4]

In the 2024 election, Johnson lost the Republican primary to Isanti mayor Jimmy Gordon, becoming the only incumbent representative to lose a primary in Minnesota that year.[5]

Public safety

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Johnson has opposed various criminal justice reform proposals put forward by House Democrats, and accused the DFL of being "hostile" to police and "pushing an anti-law enforcement and defund the police policies".[6][7][8][9] He opposed legislation requiring law enforcement to release unedited body camera footage after deadly force incidents to the families of the victims within 48 hours of the event.[10] After the police killing of Daunte Wright, Johnson said, "it's unfortunate that he didn't comply and go to jail".[11] He voted against legislation to ban no-knock warrants and opposed a bipartisan bill to return the right to vote to felons on parole, saying he believed it was unconstitutional.[12][13][14] Johnson opposed legislation to legalize marijuana in Minnesota and a bill to provide driver's licenses to all Minnesotans regardless of immigration status.[15][16]

Johnson has supported "tough on crime" policies, such as increasing patrols in high-risk areas, increasing police recruiting, and stronger penalties for violent crime.[17][18][19] He introduced a bill that would make assaulting police officers a felony and prevent cities from disarming officers.[20][21] He also sponsored a bill making it more difficult to release convicted sex offenders and people with mental illness seeking unconditional release and a bill requiring law enforcement officials to get a warrant before using drones.[22][23][24] He supported bipartisan legislation to allow courts to reduce or waive certain court fines based on someone's ability to pay.[25]

Johnson authored legislation to limit the power of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, an independent board that helps set criminal sentences.[26] He said he believed the commission went "way too far" when reducing penalties for drug offenders and again overstepped when it set a five-year felony probation cap.[27][28]

Gun control

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Johnson has consistently opposed gun control legislation, saying we "have pretty good laws in place" to address gun violence.[29][30][31] He has opposed increasing background checks and red flag laws, and said "we have to quit blaming the tool and look at what's causing it".[32] In 2018, as public safety chair, he refused to hold hearings on gun control proposals introduced by DFLers, and later said it was too late in session to consider proposals authored by suburban Republican members.[33][34][35]

Electoral history

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2012 Minnesota State House - District 32A[36]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Brian Johnson 10,014 51.37
Democratic (DFL) Paul Gammel 8,601 44.13
Constitution Paul Bergley 851 4.37
Write-in 26 0.13
Total votes 19,492 100.0
Republican hold
2014 Minnesota State House - District 32A[37]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Brian Johnson (incumbent) 8,006 57.48
Democratic (DFL) Paul Gammel 5,907 42.41
Write-in 15 0.11
Total votes 13,928 100.0
Republican hold
2016 Minnesota State House - District 32A[38]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Brian Johnson (incumbent) 12,928 63.00
Democratic (DFL) Paul Gammel 7,551 36.79
Write-in 43 0.21
Total votes 20,522 100.0
Republican hold
2018 Minnesota State House - District 32A[39]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Brian Johnson (incumbent) 11,351 63.47
Democratic (DFL) Renae Berg 6,522 36.47
Write-in 12 0.07
Total votes 17,886 100.0
Republican hold
2020 Minnesota State House - District 32A[40]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Brian Johnson (incumbent) 16,381 68.20
Democratic (DFL) Renae Berg 7,607 31.67
Write-in 31 0.13
Total votes 24,019 100.0
Republican hold
2022 Minnesota State House - District 28A[41]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Brian Johnson (incumbent) 12,903 68.03
Democratic (DFL) Erik Johnson 6,043 31.86
Write-in 20 0.11
Total votes 18,966 100.0
Republican hold
2024 Minnesota House - District 28A, Republican primary[42]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Jimmy Gordon 2,561 65.99
Republican Brian Johnson (incumbent) 1,320 34.01
Total votes 3,881 100

Personal life

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Johnson is married to his wife, Diane. They have one child and reside in Cambridge, Minnesota.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Johnson, Brian". Legislators Past & Present. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  2. ^ "Rep. Brian Johnson (28A) - Minnesota House of Representatives". www.house.mn.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  3. ^ McKinney, Matt (June 23, 2020). "U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis warns against calls to 'defund' Minneapolis police". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  4. ^ Scheck, Tom; Bakst, Brian (November 21, 2017). "Rep. Cornish to resign amid sexual misconduct accusatio". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. ^ Bierschbach, Briana (August 14, 2024). "Five takeaways from Minnesota's primary election". Minnesota Star Tribune. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  6. ^ Montemayor, Stephen (April 17, 2021). "Pressure mounts on Minnesota lawmakers to pass new policing bills after Daunte Wright's death". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  7. ^ Montemayor, Stephen (April 29, 2021). "Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats: policing laws a top priority of session's final weeks". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  8. ^ Bakst, Brian (April 8, 2021). "Gulf builds in MN Legislature over public safety plans". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  9. ^ The Associated Press (July 27, 2021). "Violent crime surges across MN with record murders". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  10. ^ Bierschbach, Briana (March 27, 2021). "Minnesota police reform debate plays out in legislators' Zoom backgrounds". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  11. ^ Montemayor, Stephen (April 27, 2021). "Wright's death fuels push to change Minnesota warrant process". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  12. ^ Pugmire, Tim (February 17, 2022). "House panel advances bill to limit no-knock warrants". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  13. ^ Bakst, Brian (March 22, 2018). "Wait will go on for felons seeking return of voting rights". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  14. ^ Callaghan, Peter (2019-03-12). "Around the country, restoring felons' voting rights is often a bipartisan issue. Not in Minnesota". MinnPost. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  15. ^ Pugmire, Tim (April 28, 2021). "Legal pot bill moving in MN House despite Senate GOP opposition". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  16. ^ Ferguson, Dana (January 30, 2023). "MN House passes driver's license for all bill". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  17. ^ Chhith, Alex (July 27, 2021). "Minnesota broke the record for most murders reported in 2020; violent crime and bias reports also high". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  18. ^ Winter, Deena (April 19, 2022). "House GOP pushes Dems to get tougher on crime". Minnesota Reformer. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  19. ^ Lopez, Ricardo (January 14, 2022). "Gazelka calls for tougher penalties for 'young hardened criminals'". Minnesota Reformer. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  20. ^ Van Berkel, Jessie (March 22, 2018). "House bills would increase penalty for attacking an officer, prevent police disarmament". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  21. ^ Bakst, Brian (March 22, 2018). "A gun bill advances, but this one aimed at police power". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  22. ^ Serres, Chris (April 23, 2018). "Minnesota Senate passes bill to tighten sex offender, mental health commitment rules". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  23. ^ Sepic, Matt (March 12, 2014). "Drone curbs find support in state House". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  24. ^ Bierschbach, Briana (2014-03-10). "After Target and Snowden revelations, privacy protection emerges as a top issue at Legislature". MinnPost. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  25. ^ Van Berkel, Jessie. "Minnesota's criminal justice fees often fall hardest on poor". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  26. ^ Collins, Jon (December 22, 2016). "Proposed change in drug-sentence formula draws fire". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  27. ^ Mannix, Andy (March 9, 2017). "Measure to strip power from Minnesota Sentencing Commission advances". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  28. ^ Tribune, Liz Sawyer Star. "Sentencing Guidelines Commission approves 5-year felony probation cap". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  29. ^ Van Berkel, Jessie (February 20, 2018). "Minnesota gun-control and gun-rights advocates seek legislative changes". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  30. ^ Bakst, Brian (March 20, 2018). "Gun bills remain stuck despite effort to dislodge them". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  31. ^ The Associated Press (February 10, 2023). "Gun safety bills gain in Minnesota amid Democratic control". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  32. ^ Bierschbach, Briana. "Shooting revives school safety debate in Minnesota". MPR News. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  33. ^ Van Berkel, Jessie (March 1, 2018). "Gun control measures quickly stall at State Capitol". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  34. ^ Coolican, J. Patrick (March 19, 2018). "At Minnesota Capitol, support for guns is deeply ingrained". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  35. ^ Van Berkel, Jessie (May 4, 2018). "Suburban House Republicans propose gun measures at 11th hour". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  36. ^ "2012 Results for State Representative District 32A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  37. ^ "2014 Results for State Representative District 32A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  38. ^ "2016 Results for State Representative District 32A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  39. ^ "2018 Results for State Representative District 32A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  40. ^ "2020 Results for State Representative District 32A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  41. ^ "2022 Results for State Representative District 28A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  42. ^ "2024 Primary Results for State Representative District 28A". Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
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