David Johnson (Iowa politician)

For other people named David Johnson, see David Johnson (disambiguation).
David J. Johnson
Member of the Iowa Senate
from the 1st district
3rd (2003-2011)
Assumed office
January 13, 2003
Preceded by Kenneth Veenstra
Member of the Iowa House of Representatives
from the 6th district
In office
January 13, 1997 – January 13, 2003
Preceded by Richard Van de Hoef
Succeeded by Greg Stevens
Personal details
Born 1950 (age 65–66)
West Branch, Iowa, U.S.
Political party Republican (until 2016)
Independent (2016–present)
Residence Ocheyedan, Iowa, U.S.
Alma mater Beloit College
Occupation Dairy farmer
Religion Catholic
Website Johnson's website

David Johnson (born 1950) is the Iowa State Senator from the 1st District and is an assistant minority leader.[1] A former Republican and currently independent,[2] he has served in the Iowa Senate since 2003 and served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1999–2003. He received his B.A. in History from Beloit College.

Johnson currently serves on several committees in the Iowa Senate – the Appropriations committee; the Education committee; the Human Resources committee; the Natural Resources committee; and the Agriculture committee, where he is the ranking member. He also serves as the ranking member of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.

2006 election

In his 2006 bid for re-election Johnson received 12,328 votes (57%), defeating Democratic opponent Mel Berryhill.[3]

Early life and education

Johnson was born and raised in West Branch, Iowa and graduated from West Branch High School. He then went on to obtain his B.A. in history from Beloit College in Wisconsin.[4]

Career

Johnson in 2008

After graduating college, he went on three scientific expeditions. For all three trips to Antarctica and the Arctic, he was the camp manager. Outside politics Johnson works on an Osceola County dairy farm. He then went on to become a newspaper publisher and editor where he won a number of awards for his work in journalism. For several years he served as president of the Chamber of Commerce.[4]

In July 2015, upon receiving an email from a teacher asking for him to reconsider his stance on an education vote, Senator Johnson wrote "quit whining".

In June 2016, Johnson changed his party affiliation to "No Party", citing his opposition to the Republican Party's support for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. He stated, "Many of the voters who elected me are supporting Mr. Trump. I respect that, but disagree that he is qualified to lead the nation and the free world."[2][5]

Awards and honors

Johnson has won a number of awards from the following:

References

  1. ↑ https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=85&personID=155
  2. 1 2 Petroski, William (June 7, 2016). "Iowa GOP lawmaker dumps party to protest Trump". Des Moines Register.
  3. ↑
  4. 1 2 3 "David Johnson". Iowa Senate Republican Caucus. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  5. ↑ Jacobs, Ben (June 7, 2016). "Iowa state senator is first elected official to leave Republican party over Trump". The Guardian.

External links

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Iowa House of Representatives
Preceded by
Richard Van de Hoef		 6th District
1999 – 2003 		Succeeded by
Greg Stevens
Iowa Senate
Preceded by
Kenneth Veenstra		 3rd District
2003 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.