Pete Johnson (Mississippi politician)

Patrick H. "Pete" Johnson (born May 12, 1948) is an American politician.[1] Both his grandfather, Paul B. Johnson, Sr., and uncle, Paul B. Johnson, Jr., served as Governor of Mississippi.

Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, Johnson graduated from Murrah High School in Jackson, Mississippi. He earned a B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 1971 and a law degree from Jackson School of Law in 1974. He joined the Bank of Clarksdale as a Senior Vice President and also served as President of the Young Bankers Section of the Mississippi Bankers Association. He then moved into the financial planning field and formed his own firm. In 1984, Governor William Allain appointed him Chair of the Mississippi Marketing Council. He was also President of the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce and Director of the Delta Council's Community and Industrial Development Board.

Johnson twice ran to represent Mississippi's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and 1986, in both instances losing in the Democratic primaries to Robert G. Clark, Jr. and Mike Espy, respectively. In 1987, he was elected State Auditor, succeeding Ray Mabus, who was elected Governor the same election. In early 1989, Johnson announced he was joining the Republican Party, becoming the first Republican to hold statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction Era. He entered the gubernatorial race in 1991 and, although considered the favorite for the Republican nomination, he came in at a close second in the primary to Vicksburg construction executive Kirk Fordice and went on to lose the runoff by more than 20 points. Fordice went on to defeat Mabus in the general election and became the first Republican Governor of Mississippi in 116 years.

After leaving office, President George H. W. Bush appointed Johnson Mississippi Director of the Farmers Home Administration and, in 2001, President George W. Bush appointed him to become the first Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority. He also practices law in Clarksdale at the firm Johnson Bobo.