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Who is Perry Johnson? Republican businessman releases new TV ad for presidential bid
Also, 2024 presidential candidate Eric Jon Boerner visits Eastern Iowa
Republican businessman Perry Johnson, a former candidate for governor of Michigan, is back on the airwaves and hitting the road in Iowa.
Johnson, who formally announced a long-shot bid for president earlier this month, released a new TV ad Monday highlighting his background as a self-described “quality guru” in the automotive industry and his plan to cut federal discretionary spending by 2 percent every year.
A 2022 Republican candidate for Michigan governor, Johnson was disqualified with four other candidates due to invalid nominating petition signatures. He first visited Iowa in February, setting up a campaign office in Ankeny and traveling the state on the heels of a $192,000 Super Bowl ad targeting voters in the lead-off caucus state for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. The ad portrayed Democratic officials as greedy and bloated.
Johnson will have spent more than $700,000 on TV advertising campaigns through the end of March in New Hampshire and Iowa, according to his campaign, and has bus tours planned in both states throughout April and May.
Johnson plans to visit Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux City and Malvern throughout the week to meet with Iowans and party figureheads, according to his campaign.
In the new 30-second ad, “Perry Who?,” Johnson claims his work in quality controls "saved" the American automotive industry and that as an “outsider and businessman” he’ll “deflate our bloated government.”
Johnson argues that if "Washington cuts the budget just 2 percent a year, problem solved."
Johnson made his money by promoting and implementing statistical controls and standardization in the automotive industry. He hopes to take the principles of quality control that he used in the automotive industry and apply them to the federal government to “get spending under control and tame our nation’s record inflation,” according to his campaign.
GOP presidential candidate Eric Jon Boerner visits Eastern Iowa
Another 2024 Republican presidential candidate also is campaigning in Iowa this week.
Eric Jon Boerner is an Air Force veteran who claims 33 years of service in the federal government, including work with the Department of Defense, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Commerce.
Boerner hosted a town hall in Waukee last week, talking about border security and the fentanyl crisis in America.
He also stopped in Davenport and Iowa City in recent days, and plans to stop in Cedar Falls from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lark Brewing and in Cedar Rapids from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at Parlor City Pub, according to his campaign.
His policy proposals include:
- Increasing trade with Mexico, South America and African countries to reduce migration. In doing so, the United States “can reap the benefits of stabilizing other countries by trading with them and thereby keeping its trade surplus going … and increase security in the region by building alliances,” according to his campaign
- An “Internet Bill of Rights.” The set of guidelines include provisions that would protect data privacy, data ownership and net neutrality, as well as “protect users from targeted advertising and content manipulation,” according to the campaign.
- Transforming the nation’s transportation system “from one that relies on oil products to one that relies on a combination of oil and renewable energy sources.”
- Encouraging the U.S. energy industry to “retrofit their operations, and increase their overall revenue by committing government contracts of noble metals for the national reserve.”
- Working to expand access to “crime-fighting technologies that are currently being used in only a few cities, like body cameras and predictive policing technology.”
Republican businessman Perry Johnson, a former candidate for governor of Michigan, is back on the airwaves and hitting the road in Iowa. (Screenshot)
Eric Jon Boerner is an Air Force veteran who claims 33 years of service in the federal government, including work with the Department of Defense, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Commerce. Boerner is running for the 2024 GOP nomination for president. (BoernerTheUSA Campaign Fund photo)
