Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson (Republican Party) is a member of the Minnesota State Senate, representing District 1. He assumed office in 2017. His current term ends on January 5, 2027.

Johnson (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Minnesota State Senate to represent District 1. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. The Republican primary for this office on August 11, 2026, was canceled.

Johnson began serving as Senate Minority Leader in January 2023.[1]

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Johnson's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Promoting Business:

As a business owner myself, I am thoroughly exasperated at the number of regulatory hurdles that stand between me and the work I love. Considering all the reports, audits, forms, applications, fees, fines, penalties, and notices, it is very difficult to be a business owner in Minnesota. If we want to encourage growth in Minnesota, we must figure out how to deal with the growing regulatory problem plaguing our businesses.

Attracting and Retaining Workers and Families:

Northwestern Minnesota has plenty to offer: good jobs, great communities to raise families, and lots of opportunity. But we do not attract enough workers or families to grow our towns and communities. We must figure out ways to showcase our great district or we will continue to see accelerated population decline.

Our first step is to make Northwestern Minnesota a desirable place for our own children to stay and raise their families. We can do this by bolstering our primary and secondary schools. If our children possess the skills that are marketable to our local businesses, there will not be a need for our children to go elsewhere to find employment.

We also must provide a tax and regulatory scheme that encourages businesses to stay and hire employees right here in SD1. Because we are a border district with a competitive western neighbor, we know all too well the draw they have on businesses and jobs that could stay right here in this district. Legislators from populist urban centers do not understand how our business climate is penalizing our small towns and rural communities.

Finally, if we start attracting new families and retaining our own, an already tight and aging housing market will become a barrier to growth. We can encourage an investment in housing with reasonable policies and incentives.

Property Rights:

Article 1, Section 13 of the Minnesota Constitution explicitly protects our property from being taken by our state government without just compensation. But that isn't stopping our Minnesota government from taking thousands of acres of land without compensation. This is unjust and should be remedied immediately by either eliminating this requirement or, at the very least, compensating our landowners for their loss.

Pro-life:

"No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law[.]" U.S. Const. amend. V. The Constitution appears to clearly require due process of law when we are going to take someone's life, but twisted reasoning has created a system where individuals can be exterminated for convenience. Life begins at conception. We need to stand up and protect those who are unable to speak for themselves!

Religious Liberty:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof[.]" U.S. Const. amend. I. "The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed[.]" MN Const. art. I sec. 16. We have seen our First Amendment right to freely exercise our religion of choice infringed upon, especially for Christians. Contrarily, the government seems to go out of its way to accomodate other more "politically correct" religions. I will stand up for Christian priniciples to prevent this blatant double standard.[6]

—Mark Johnson [7]