Paul Johnson

Who is Paul Johnson?

Paul Johnson is an American Democratic politician and the former mayor of Phoenix, Arizona.

Johnson was first elected to the Phoenix city council in 1985 at the age of 25. During his second term in 1990, Johnson was selected by the council to fill the vacancy left by outgoing mayor Terry Goddard, who had resigned his office in order to run for governor. Johnson would go on to run for mayor in his own right in 1993. Running unopposed, he was elected with 99.7% of the vote.

After serving one year and three months of his own term as mayor, Johnson announced his resignation and intent to run for governor just as his predecessor had done. Johnson in fact ran against Goddard in the Democratic primary, but both lost the race to supermarket magnate Eddie Basha. Johnson again sought the governorship in 1998, running unopposed in the primary but losing to Republican incumbent Jane Dee Hull by a 25% margin in the general election.