Tim Skubick

He’s back.

If you’ve got any ragged “Perry Johnson for Governor” yard signs laying out in the garage, dust them off. He’s back.

The Oakland County multi-national business guru is running for governor and this time, he thinks he will get it right.

Last time in 2024 he and others got it so wrong that they never got to first base in the crowded Republican primary for governor. They failed to meet the relatively easiest part of running for governor i.e. collecting between 15,000 and 30,000 petition signatures from around the state to get the spot on the ballot. Much to his chagrin, the State Board of Canvassers found a boat load of phony names on his petitions and imagine his shock and horror when the board handed him his walking papers relegating him to watch from the sidelines as Tudor Dixon got the nomination that he thought should be rightfully his.

“Last time my team was two people,” Mr. Johnson recalls while quickly adding he’s got enough team members to fill one of his corporate conference rooms and then some.

The thud that might have been heard earlier this week when his announcement video went virtual,might have been all the other wanna be GOP candidates for governor going “oh you know what!”

They know this could be a game changer for the August primary election to pick the governor candidate.

If you’re John James sitting pretty at the top of the heap with a hefty lead in the primary, he’s got to weigh the ins and outs of this move.

Mr. Johnson has plenty of moola and is willing to dig deep to spend it which forces Mr. James to double down on putting the arm on supporters for more from them.

If you are gov. candidate Mike Cox, Tom Leonard, or Aric Nesbitt they will not immediately cry uncle, if at all, but hang around long enough to figure out if they are on a wild goose chase or wait long enough to see if Mr. Johnson implodes again.

Which brings one to Anthony Hudson, Ralph ReBandt and Karla Wagner, not exactly household names in the lores of Michigan politics, who were long shots to being with and with Mr. Johnson in the contest, the popular wisdom is the long shots just got a whole lot longer.

There’s another guy who will try to figure out how this impacts his bid for the Independent nomination for governor. Since Mike Duggan is sucking votes away from Democrats, Republicans and Independents, the subject of the internal polling will likely be, “Does Johnson take votes away from me or from any or all three of those voting blocks?” This is critical to his strategy to win which is based on not getting to 50% but just enough from all three groups to beat all the rest with say 40% of the vote. The “winning” formula” goes sideways if Johnson gets traction with would-be Duggan backers that he can’t afford to lose.

While this Johnson decision, which created this possible realignment of the GOP race for governor, it should come as no surprise that he is running.

He’s had the bug for years, with the exception of the period in which he had another virus as he actually ran for president until he knew he could not win.

Now he is geeked as he seeks a pathway to victory if all his “if comes” come.

Mr. Johnson can run as the outsider. The extremely successful business guy will tell voters he will use his skills at managing 40,000 business clients and merely transfer them to revamping the state government. He’s using all the biz buzz words:l audits, performance based management, the elimination of waste, and modernized processes to reduce government and take part of the same and give it back to you through a gradual income tax elimination program with details to follow.

Hum. Sound familiar?

What was that guy’s name?

Rick Snyder used his business acumen to win.

Can Mr. Johnson re-channel that so he can win..even though he is not one tough nerd?