Perry Johnson guarantees he'll make Michigan governor's ballot after 2022 rejection

LANSING, Mich. - Republican businessman Perry Johnson guaranteed Wednesday that his campaign for governor will make the August primary ballot, saying he's gone "overboard" in ensuring he has enough petition signatures after he was disqualified four years ago.

Johnson of Bloomfield Hills has already spent more than $10 million of his own money on television advertisements to try to help him win the GOP nomination for Michigan's top state office.

Major party candidates, like Johnson, have until Tuesday to submit 15,000 valid petition signatures to the Secretary of State's office. The most they can turn in is 30,000.

Standing outside his campaign bus, during a stop in downtown Lansing Wednesday afternoon, Johnson labeled himself the "quality guru," a theme from his last campaign for governor.

"Once you see that there's a problem, you know you'll have to solve that problem," Johnson told reporters. "So we have gone overboard. I admit I have gone overboard to the nth degree. ... We're going to be turning in, in the neighborhood of 30,000."

Johnson has previously said he'll spend "whatever it takes" to become Michigan's next governor. He made his fortune developing quality controls for the auto industry. He is running this year on eliminating the state's 4.25% personal income tax, which currently generates more than $13 billion in revenue annually.

Four years ago, in 2022, he also spent about $8 million on his campaign, which helped push him toward the front of the Republican primary field.

However, he and four other Republican candidates for governor were disqualified from the ballot in May 2022 after the staff from the Bureau of Elections found a wave of fraudulent signatures that had been submitted by paid gatherers who worked on behalf of the GOP campaigns.

In 2022, the bureau's review found that Johnson had submitted 23,193 signatures, but 9,393 of them were invalid, leaving him 1,200 signatures short of the threshold. Johnson had 6,983 signatures that were submitted by fraudulent petition circulators, according to the bureau's findings.

This time around, Johnson's campaign has collected close to 40,000 signatures and plans to turn in only "crème de la crème," Johnson said.

"I guarantee ... we'll make the ballot," Johnson said. "That's an absolute guarantee."

Johnson made the comments after giving a brief speech inside Kelly's, an Irish pub in downtown Lansing. He spoke to reporters in front of his campaign bus, which sat in a lane on Washington Square. As he took questions, a parking enforcement worker pulled up behind the bus.

After the interview concluded and Johnson's bus pulled away, the parking worker said the bus would be ticketed for blocking traffic in downtown Lansing.

Johnson is in a crowded Republican primary field for governor. It includes former Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia, U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, former state House Speaker Tom Leonard of DeWitt, state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township and longtime pastor Ralph Rebandt of Oakland County.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, can't run for reelection because of term limits. The Democratic primary features Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of Detroit and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson of Fenton.

Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor as an independent.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 5:28 PM.