Republican Rep. Bill Johnson announced Tuesday that he would resign from the House next year to become president of Youngstown State University, a move that will set off a special election to replace him in an Ohio seat that shifted from purple to dark red over the last decade. Donald Trump carried the 6th District, which is based in southeastern Ohio and the Youngstown area, 64-35 in 2020.
Johnson's new contract stipulates he'll begin his new job on March 15, and the Republican said he'd remain in the House "for several more months." However, anyone who wants to run for a full term has only until the Dec. 20 filing deadline to decide if they'll compete in the regularly scheduled March 19 primary.
Last week, the university's Board of Trustees unexpectedly announced that it had offered its top job to Johnson in an emergency meeting that it had called just two hours earlier. The congressman, who responded at the time that he was still considering whether to accept, does not appear to have even been publicly discussed as a potential candidate for the presidency before then. The Vindicator's David Skolnick adds that the board "failed to disclose why it considered the offer to Johnson an emergency when plans have been to have a president in place by mid-2024."
Unhappy students, alumni, and faculty members quickly responded by focusing on Johnson's hard-line views, his lack of academic qualifications, and the process involved in his selection. One letter from alumni objected to Johnson's opposition to same-sex marriage, his support for Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban, and his vote against recognizing Joe Biden's win in 2020. The school's faculty union also argued that no faculty, students, or staff were allowed to formally make their case about Johnson or anyone else considered for the presidency.
However, the Board of Trustees, which includes members connected to major Johnson donors, nonetheless voted 8-1 Tuesday to approve a formal contract for the new president. The vote, reports WKBN, "was met by boos and yelling from the full crowd in attendance," but Johnson quickly announced he'd accept his new role.
Johnson's sudden career shift comes 13 years after he unexpectedly won a seat in Congress by upsetting Democratic Rep. Charlie Wilson (not to be confused with the famous Texas Democrat with the same name). Johnson, a businessman who had previously served in the Air Force, founded a group advocating sales tax "holidays" shortly before he began eyeing a 2010 campaign against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the now-defunct 17th District.
Johnson ended up passing on a campaign for what was at the time a safely blue seat and decided to take on Wilson in the neighboring 6th instead. However, his prospects initially seemed just as grim. While the 6th had supported John McCain 50-48 the previous cycle, Wilson had secured his second term in a 62-33 landslide. Still, the fact that McCain had matched George W. Bush's 2004 margin of victory in the district even as the state as a whole was swinging toward Barack Obama was an early warning about the Democratic Party's prospects in Appalachia.
Johnson, who looked very much like a Some Dude when he launched his effort, beat veterinarian Donald Allan 43-37 in the primary, and he generated little attention for most of his campaign. Even House Minority Leader John Boehner, who represented a different Ohio district, would acknowledge the challenger "was not on anyone’s charts" as late as August.
However, Johnson's team released polls late in the race arguing he had a chance to win, and the NRCC responded by launching an ad campaign in the final month of the contest. Wilson recognized he was in danger during the final stretch and ran his own ads attacking his opponent on outsourcing jobs, but that year's red wave carried Johnson to a 50-45 victory.
Wilson was determined to retake his seat even after the GOP's new gerrymander extended McCain's margin of victory to 53-45, but the region's continued shift to the right presented an insurmountable obstacle. Johnson won their 2012 rematch 53-47 as Mitt Romney carried the revamped 6th 55-43. (Wilson would die a few months later, following a stroke.)
Democrats still showed some optimism about beating Johnson in 2014, but the race never became a major priority, and he beat former state Rep. Jennifer Garrison 58-39. The 6th fell completely off both parties' watch list after that, and the congressman would go on to win each of his next four terms with at least 68% of the vote as his once-swingy constituency became dark red turf during the Trump era.
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