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Jason Johnson (Texas)
| Jason Johnson | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Organization: | J2 Strategies | ||
| Role: | Founder | ||
| Location: | Austin, Texas | ||
| Affiliation: | Republican | ||
| Education: | Texas A&M University | ||
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Jason Johnson is a Republican political strategist and founder of J2, a political strategy firm based in Austin, Texas. Johnson is a senior advisor on Ron DeSantis' (R) 2024 presidential campaign. Johnson was the chief strategist for Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign and had worked with Texas Governor and former Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R). He has also worked for Texas State Senator Todd Staples and had served as a consultant to Ted Cruz.
In 2012, Business Insider said Johnson "could be the next Karl Rove." The article went on to note, "Johnson has an Atwateresque feel for the electorate, and beating the establishment against long odds is always a good thing to put on your resume."[1]
Career
Early career
Jason Johnson began his political career working as the campaign manager on State Sen. Todd Staples' (R) state Senate campaign for the Texas State Senate District 3 in 1999.[2] After Staples won with nearly 61 percent of the vote, Johnson became Staples' communications director until 2001.[3]
Greg Abbott advisor
In 2002, Johnson began working on Greg Abbott's (R) campaign for Texas attorney general as campaign manager. After Abbott's victory, Johnson served as Abbott's chief of staff until 2004.[4] As an aide to Abbott, Johnson handled press requests and acted as a spokesperson for Abbott and his campaigns during his time in the attorney general's office.[5]
J2 Strategies
In 2004, Johnson founded J2, a political strategy firm in Austin, Texas.[6]
Texas State Legislature election strategist
In 2008, Johnson worked on multiple races, including the Texas House of Representatives campaigns of Republicans Nathan Macias and Bryan Daniel as well as Mark Shelton's (R) Texas State Senate campaign.[7]
Johnson began working on State Rep. Connie Scott's (R) campaign for the Texas House in 2011.
Ted Cruz advisor
Also in 2011, Johnson also began to work on Ted Cruz's campaign for U.S. Senate.[8] Johnson was Cruz's consultant and helped Cruz defeat the then-Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the GOP primary and ultimately win the Senate seat.[9] During that campaign, he worked with Cruz's 2016 campaign chairman Chad Sweet.[10] In 2014, Johnson and his consulting firm, J2 Strategies, began working for Cruz's PAC, Jobs, Growth & Freedom Fund.[11]
As Cruz's strategist, Johnson was particularly vocal on Twitter about many of Cruz's stances in the Senate. In 2013, when Cruz suggested that the government shut down if the Affordable Care Act was not defunded, Johnson attacked Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican strategist Karl Rove on the issue in a series of tweets:[12]
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Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016
- See also: Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016
Jason Johnson came on to Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign staff as Cruz's chief strategist. According to the Washington Post, Johnson was the "political brain" of Cruz's campaign.[13]
In October 2015, Johnson outlined his strategy for Cruz's campaign. The Washington Post noted that Johnson's strategy was informed by his belief that "the persuadable portion of the electorate" shrinks each year, and he aimed to secure the support of typically nonvoting whites. Johnson strategized for Cruz with "behavioral micro-targeting," a technique that documented individual voters' behaviors and retail activity to understand the most effective campaign appeals.[14]
The paper also explained Johnson's long-term strategy for securing delegates:
| “ | Of the 624 delegates at stake on March 1, 231 are from Cruz’s Texas and Georgia, where Cruz inherited Scott Walker’s entire operation. With Oklahoma, whose closed primary will be especially conservative, these three states have 274 delegates, almost a quarter of the number needed to nominate. Eighty-seven of the 155 delegates allocated on March 5 will be from Louisiana and Kansas. On March 15, when winner-take-all primaries begin and 367 delegates will be allocated, Bush and Marco Rubio will compete for Florida’s 99 delegates, while Cruz is well-positioned for North Carolina’s 72 and Missouri’s 52 (Cruz’s campaign manager, Missourian Jeff Roe, has run many campaigns there).[15] | ” |
Johnson was one of the few professional consultants employed by the Cruz campaign. National Review noted that Cruz's pitch to potential donors was based on a promise not to "run a traditional campaign with a bunch of D.C. consultants who are fleecing donors out of their money." He explained that the campaign's ties with Johnson and J2 Strategies "is the closest their operation comes to a traditional campaign-consultant relationship."[16]
Cruz suspended his presidential campaign on May 3, 2016, after losing the Indiana Republican primary to Donald Trump.[17] In the weeks leading to the Republican National Convention, Johnson did not advocate Cruz endorsing Donald Trump for the presidency. According to Politico, Johnson represented the majority of the campaign staff who "vehemently opposed supporting him on moral grounds."[18]
Ron DeSantis presidential campaign, 2024
- See also: Ron DeSantis presidential campaign, 2024
In 2023, Johnson joined Ron DeSantis' (R) 2024 presidential campaign as a senior advisor.[19]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Business Insider, "This Man Could Be The Next Karl Rove," September 12, 2012
- ↑ Walt, Kathy. (2000). East Texas embroiled in high stakes Senate race. Houston Chronicle.
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Todd Staples," accessed May 19, 2015
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Texas Operatives Prominent in 2016 Campaigns," April 19, 2015
- ↑ Politifact Texas, "Texas AG Greg Abbott says he's arrested more criminals, including thousands of child predators and sex offenders, than any previous AG," November 11, 2001
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Jason Johnson," accessed May 19, 2015
- ↑ Mike Hailey's Capital Inside, "Primary Results Mix Pleasure with Pain for Most Top Texas Political Consultants," March 12, 2008
- ↑ "New York Times, "‘Band of Brothers’ Pulls Strings for Cruz Campaign," June 16, 2012
- ↑ Texas Weekly, "Opportunities for Consultants in Electoral Shakeup," September 11, 2012
- ↑ National Review, "Ted Cruz Will Bank on the Base," December 15, 2014
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Jobs, Growth & Freedom Fund," accessed May 20, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Ted Cruz taunts fellow Republicans in Obamacare fight," July 31, 2013
- ↑ Washington Post, "Meet the people who will help Ted Cruz try to get to the White House," March 24, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Ted Cruz’s audacious plan to win the GOP nomination," October 9, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ National Review, "How Ted Cruz Has Wooed Some of the GOP’s Top Donors," August 18, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Ted Cruz drops out of presidential race," May 3, 2016
- ↑ Politico Magazine, "Meet the ‘New Ted Cruz,’" January 23, 2017
- ↑ New York Post, "Ron DeSantis presidential campaign team unveiled — including ex-Trump staffer Dustin Carmack," May 24, 2023
