Incumbent state Senator John Johnson seeking reelection

State Senator John Johnson filing for reelection. Photo: Photo: John for Utah

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah – John Johnson, the incumbent Republican state Senator representing District Three in the Utah state Senate, is seeking reelection for a second term.

Johnson, who works as a professor at Utah State University, was elected in 2020 and represents parts of Summit County in the state Senate, including Wanship, Pineview, Coalville, Echo, and Henefer, among other towns.

Throughout his campaign, Johnson’s major message relates to the promises kept during his first term.

“I think that my major message is the idea of promises kept when I entered the race last time,” Johnson told the Townlift. “I said I was going to help elevate teachers, give them higher pay. We were able to accomplish that.”

“Since I’ve been chair of the Education Committee, I purposely wanted to work in education. And since I’ve been chair of that committee, we’ve increased spending on public education by almost $3 billion, and in the last two years we’ve had two biggest teacher pay increases in history. And you know, those are important things to me.”

In addition to serving as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Johnson sits on the Education Confirmation Committee, the Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee and the Administrative Rules Review and Oversight Committee.

Besides education and increasing teacher salaries, Johnson also focuses on lowering taxes, another campaign focal point.

“Taxes are important to me. The last three years, we’ve had three of the biggest tax cuts in history,” Johnson said. “The budget will be a little flat this year, but we’re still planning on some tax relief.”

“Prices are out of control, and inflation is at record levels. Sadly, we can’t do much with that. But we can work on putting more money in the pockets of the taxpayers of the State of Utah.”

There are currently no Republicans challenging Johnson’s seat in the Senate, but Johnson will face Democratic candidate Stacy Bernal in the general election.