Dusty Johnson

Dustin Michael Johnson (born September 30, 1976) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district since 2019.

He graduated from T.F. Riggs High School in 1995.

In 1998, Johnson was named a Truman Scholar.

He graduated from the University of South Dakota with Omicron Delta Kappa honors with a BA in political science in 1999, and was a member of fraternity Phi Delta Theta.

He earned his MPA from University of Kansas in 2002.

As a Truman Scholar, he worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. In 2003, Johnson worked as a senior policy advisor for then-South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds.

In 2004, Johnson was elected to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

He was the youngest utilities commissioner in the nation.

A member of the Republican Party, he served as South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner from 2005 to 2011, when he was appointed chief of staff to Governor Dennis Daugaard, a position he held until 2014.

Between his state political career and congressional service, Johnson was the vice president of Vantage Point Solutions in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Johnson was born in Pierre, South Dakota.

He was appointed chair of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in 2007, and he served in that capacity until his resignation in 2011.

In 2010, he won reelection.

Johnson also served on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' executive board.

In 2010, he led a South Dakota delegation that included then-Governor Rounds and state regulators that met with FCC Commissioners about concerns over the FCC's National Broadband Plan and its impact on small and rural providers in South Dakota.

In 2011, he resigned his PUC position to become Governor Dennis Daugaard's chief of staff, a position he held for four years.

As chief operating officer for much of state government, he supervised cabinet secretaries, policy advisors and many of Daugaard's projects and initiatives.

In 2014, Johnson resigned as chief of staff, leaving the public sector to work for Vantage Point Solutions in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Johnson was succeeded as chief of staff by Daugaard's son-in-law, fellow Truman Scholar Tony Venhuizen.

On November 15, 2016, Johnson announced his candidacy for U.S. Representative for SD's at-large congressional district.

Johnson resigned his position with Vantage Point Solutions in 2018 upon his accession to Congress.

The announcement came shortly after Kristi Noem announced she would not seek reelection to Congress in order to run in the 2018 South Dakota gubernatorial election.

Johnson defeated Secretary of State of South Dakota Shantel Krebs and State Senator Neal Tapio in the June 5 Republican primary.

He defeated Democratic nominee Tim Bjorkman, a retired circuit court judge, and two minor candidates in the November general election.

Johnson was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 2019, and joined the Problem Solvers Caucus soon after.

In 2022, Johnson was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.

On March 26, 2019, Johnson was one of 14 Republicans to vote with all House Democrats to override President Trump's veto of a measure revoking Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border.

On May 19, 2021, Johnson was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6, 2021 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

In 2022, Johnson voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, alongside South Dakota's two US Senators, John Thune and Mike Rounds.

Discussing his vote, Johnson indicated that he did not believe the bill provided sufficient protections for "individuals or institutions that have sincerely-held 'religious beliefs and moral convictions' about marriage", stating that “If Congress is going to codify the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision, the religious protections need to be air tight, and they weren’t,” Speaking during his 2022 reelection campaign, Johnson further addressed the issue, stating: "These things are the business of the states. In fact, the full faith and credit provision of the constitution says that if any state has those gay marriages that other states need to recognize them."

"Listen, when it is in the constitution—when Speaker Pelosi is going to put up these political-show bills I think she’s got to understand she’s going to find it a lot harder to get Republican support for those.”

During the second vote to oust Liz Cheney, Johnson was among the few House Republicans who voted to keep her as conference chair.

On February 19, 2020, Johnson announced his bid for reelection to the House.

On February 4, 2020, former state representative Liz Marty May announced she would challenge Johnson in the Republican primary.

Two Democrats, Brian Wirth of Dell Rapids and Whitney Raver of Custer, announced their candidacy for the House seat, but neither got the required number of signatures to make the ballot.

According to state party chairman Randy Seiler, Wirth and Raver's canvassing efforts were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 2, Johnson won the Republican primary, 77%–23%.

He won the general election with 81% of the vote.

On October 12, 2021, State Representative Taffy Howard announced that she would challenge Johnson in the Republican primary.

On June 7, 2022, Johnson defeated Howard, 59%–40%.