Fresh off of spending nearly $30 million of his own money in 2024 to position himself as “Trump without the baggage” and chip away at President Donald Trump’s dominance in the Republican presidential primary, Michigan businessman Perry Johnson is back at it, this time flooding the airwaves in his second bid for Michigan governor.
Johnson announced his 2026 gubernatorial campaign in late January and quickly unleashed a record $10 million television ad blitz, with additional millions poured into digital, mail, and even Super Bowl pre-game spots. He has pledged to spend heavily through the August Republican primary, promising fiscal discipline, government efficiency, elimination of Michigan’s state income tax, and aggressive audits to root out waste, rhetoric designed to sound Trump-adjacent while he once again self-funds the effort.
But conservative voters in the Wolverine State have good reason to remember 2024.
During his short-lived presidential run, Johnson’s campaign burned through more than $29.7 million, nearly all of it his own cash, on ads and operations that repeatedly contrasted him with President Trump. He bragged he had “no Stormy Daniels,” claimed none of his companies had gone bankrupt, particularly a casino,” and suggested Trump spent too much money and would “lose” again to Joe Biden. On the 2020 election, he hedged and dodged, refusing to declare it stolen outright. He was even booed at a Michigan GOP forum when he wouldn’t give a straight answer on whether Trump won the state in 2020.
Of course, all MAGA voters know the election was stolen.
Johnson’s inner circle only heightened suspicions. His top strategist, Doug Stafford, carried baggage from work with Sen. Rand Paul and anti-Trump Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie’s orbit, as these members of Congress are frequently at odds with Trump’s America First agenda. Public remarks attributed to Stafford include his own personal jabs at Trump. To many MAGA loyalists, it is clear that Johnson is no Trump. Instead, his operation was a less conservative alternative stocked with swamp-adjacent consultants.
It’s important that politicians and candidates for office are held accountable for their record and previous remarks. We call this, keeping receipts, and in the midst of the Michigan GOP Gubernatorial primary, these receipts have come back to haunt Johnson’s Gubernatorial campaign.
Johnson is running in a crowded Republican field that includes U.S. Rep. John James and other candidates actively courting President Trump’s endorsement. Johnson’s latest ads attack “career politicians” and promise massive tax cuts and audits, yet the pattern remains: a billionaire writing massive checks to buy name recognition while his past record shows reluctance to fully defend Trump or admit the 2020 election was stolen. In a Trump-controlled GOP, candidates who refuse to address voter fraud and prioritize election integrity will resoundingly be rejected by the MAGA base.
In 2022, Johnson’s first gubernatorial attempt collapsed after his campaign submitted over 9,000 fraudulent petition signatures, leading to disqualification and forgery convictions for signature gatherers. He spent millions, sued, and claimed victimhood, another chapter that left many grassroots Republicans wary of his operation’s competence and integrity.
As the 2026 Michigan GOP primary heats up, Johnson’s heavy self-funding is forcing other candidates to burn resources responding to his ad barrage. This is the same Trojan horse strategy: smiling for the cameras with populist-sounding promises while his past actions and associations show he would bring the very RINO consultants and views that undermine Trump’s agenda from within.
President Trump has already exposed these types of self-funded challengers who try to out-Trump Trump without the loyalty or the fight that make Trump a force to be reckoned with.
Michigan conservatives who helped deliver the state for Trump in 2024 understand the stakes. With Michigan’s Radical left Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer term-limited, the GOP has a real shot at flipping the governorship — but only if the nominee is a proven fighter for America First, not a recycled billionaire who spent tens of millions of dollars trying to weaken the movement’s leader just two years ago.
Loyalty to President Trump and full-throated defense of election integrity aren’t optional in today’s Republican Party. Perry Johnson failed that test in 2024, and he’s failing it again today. Michigan MAGA patriots should make clear he won’t get a second chance to stab the America First agenda in the back from the governor’s mansion. In the era of Trump, the establishment smile-and-stab playbook ends here.
