Bill Johnson (Alaska)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Bill Johnson

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Alaska

Graduate

University of Alaska

Ph.D

Washington State University

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Bill Johnson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Alaska House of Representatives to represent District 9. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Bill Johnson earned both a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Alaska. He also earned a Ph.D. from Washington State University.

Elections

2020

See also: Alaska House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Alaska House of Representatives District 9

Incumbent George Rauscher defeated Bill Johnson in the general election for Alaska House of Representatives District 9 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Rauscher (R)	71.9	7,496
		Bill Johnson (D)	27.5	2,870
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	57

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,423
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9

Incumbent George Rauscher defeated Lucas Howard in the Republican primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9 on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Rauscher	61.0	1,692
	Submit photo	Lucas Howard	39.0	1,083

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,775
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Alaska Democratic and Independence parties primary election

Alaska Democratic and Independence parties primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9

Bill Johnson advanced from the Alaska Democratic and Independence parties primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9 on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bill Johnson	100.0	988

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 988
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Alaska House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Alaska House of Representatives District 9

Incumbent George Rauscher defeated Bill Johnson and James Squyres in the general election for Alaska House of Representatives District 9 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Rauscher (R)	67.5	5,209
		Bill Johnson (D)	25.4	1,962
	Submit photo	James Squyres (R)	6.7	515
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	32

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,718
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9

Incumbent George Rauscher defeated Jim Colver and Pamela Goode in the Republican primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9 on August 21, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Rauscher	49.4	1,533
		Jim Colver	29.8	923
		Pamela Goode	20.8	645

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,101
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Alaska Democratic, Libertarian, and Independence parties primary election

Alaska Democratic, Libertarian, and Independence parties primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9

Bill Johnson advanced from the Alaska Democratic, Libertarian, and Independence parties primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 9 on August 21, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bill Johnson	100.0	505

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 505
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Bill Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Johnson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born in Fairbanks in 1952 and grew up in Delta, where I still live some 27 miles out of town. Shellie and I have been married for 35 years. We have three wonderful children and two grandchildren. After I graduated from Delta High School I went to the University of Alaska and the to Washington State University where I earned a PhD in History. To support myself I have cut firewood, worked construction, fought wildfire, served as a union business agent, and taught courses for UAF. I was retired until I decided to run for office. Alaska is in big trouble. I'm asking for your vote to help bring some balance to the legislature. I will consider all points of view, always be honest with Alaskans and fellow legislators even when the truth is unpopular, and will work hard to enact responsible policies for District 9 and all Alaskans, not just a few.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• District 9 needs effective representation in Juneau. I WILL be there to work with my fellow legislators to solve Alaska issues without resorting to partisan dogma.
• I WILL put partisan ideology aside and work with all my fellow legislators to build a state where our grandchildren can grow and prosper.
• ​​Article 1 of the State Constitution is clear-government is "instituted solely for the good of the people as a whole." I believe that. We need good people in Juneau who will make hard, rational, and balanced decisions to benefit all Alaskans.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Alaska is no longer the land of opportunity I remember. Since 2016 our population has decreased every year and simply put, we are broke. We can't plow our roads, we can't fund our schools, we can't regulate polluters, we can't maintain our parks, and we can't run a ferry system. If you lost your income you would do three things. First, you would cut spending, then, you would turn to your savings account, and you would go out and find another income source. The state must do the same.

Over the years we have cut to the bone and scraped it clean. We can no longer afford the things we need. No more cuts. Our savings account, the Permanent Fund, was created for a "rainy day." It is raining hard. We need to have serious discussion about if and how to use that money. But first we need to increase the revenue we receive from oil corporations. We need to raise more money and the simplest, most direct way is to restore our historic tax revenue from oil companies, and stop the tax breaks.

Article 1 of the State Constitution is clear-government is "instituted solely for the good of the people as a whole." I believe that. We need good people in Juneau who will make hard, rational, and balanced decisions to benefit all Alaskans. I will put partisan ideology aside and work with all my fellow legislators to build a state where our grandchildren can grow and prosper.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Bill Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Johnson's responses.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

Economy. Education. Environment.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Healthcare

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

The people. That is where change starts. That is also usually where it happens.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty. Integrity. Courage.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To represent those who elected me.

What legacy would you like to leave?

A balanced, robust budget. Healthcare for all.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Statehood for Alaska. I was 7..

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Working for my Dad

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

Balancing the budget.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?

Alaska's Unity ticket was pretty cool.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Of course. If you can't work together nothing will get done.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

I don't favor districts. I like some sort of proportional system such as ranked choice voting.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

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External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Alaska Legislature

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Alaska House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Bryce Edgmon

Majority Leader:Dan Saddler

Minority Leader:Calvin Schrage

Representatives

District 1

Jeremy Bynum (R)

District 2

Rebecca Himschoot (N)

District 3

Andi Story (D)

District 4

Sara Hannan (D)

District 5

Louise Stutes (R)

District 6

Sarah Vance (R)

District 7

Justin Ruffridge (R)

District 8

Bill Elam (R)

District 9

Ky Holland (N)

District 10

Charles Kopp (R)

District 11

Julie Coulombe (R)

District 12

Calvin Schrage (N)

District 13

Andrew Josephson (D)

District 14

Alyse Galvin (N)

District 15

Mia Costello (R)

District 16

Carolyn Hall (D)

District 17

Zack Fields (D)

District 18

David Nelson (R)

District 19

Genevieve Mina (D)

District 20

Andrew Gray (D)

District 21

Donna Mears (D)

District 22

Ted Eischeid (D)

District 23

Jamie Allard (R)

District 24

Dan Saddler (R)

District 25

DeLena Johnson (R)

District 26

Cathy Tilton (R)

District 27

Jubilee Underwood (R)

District 28

Elexie Moore (R)

District 29

George Rauscher (R)

District 30

Kevin McCabe (R)

District 31

Maxine Dibert (D)

District 32

Will Stapp (R)

District 33

Glenn Prax (R)

District 34

Frank Tomaszewski (R)

District 35

Ashley Carrick (D)

District 36

Becky Schwanke (R)

District 37

Bryce Edgmon (U)

District 38

Nellie Jimmie (D)

District 39

Neal Foster (D)

District 40

Robyn Burke (D)

Republican Party (21)

Democratic Party (14)

Nonpartisan (4)

Undeclared (1)