Louis P. Johnson

Louis P. Johnson (June 30, 1876 –June 8, 1954) was an American politician who served in the Minnesota Senate from 1923 to 1931. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Early life
Johnson was born on a farm in Marshalltown, Iowa, on June 30, 1876, and his family moved to Lincoln County, Minnesota, in 1890. He married Alice, with whom he had four children.

Johnson graduated from Lake Forest College with a legal degree and was admitted to the Illinois State Bar Association in 1903, and Minnesota State Bar Association in 1905. He served as president of the Minnesota State Bar Association. He practiced law in Ivanhoe from 1903 to 1932, Mankato from 1932 to 1943, and Marshall from 1942 to his retirement in 1951.

Johnson served as the Lincoln County attorney from 1910 to 1918. He unsuccessfully ran to be a delegate for Albert B. Cummins from Minnesota's 2nd congressional district during the 1916 Republican primary.

State Senate
Johnson ran for a seat in the Minnesota Senate from the 12th district in the 1922 election. He placed first in the top-two primary, which eliminated incumbent senator Floyd Lindsley. He defeated George Gurley in the election. He narrowly defeated Charles F. Norwood in the 1926 election, in which a recount was conducted, after spending $307. He lost reelection to J.V. Weber in 1930.

During Johnson's tenure in the state senate he served on the Agriculture, Civil Administration, Finance, Game and Fish, and Judiciary committees. He chaired the Temperance and Elections committees. Johnson was a county delegate for Frank O. Lowden during the 1928 presidential campaign.

In 1927, Johnson opposed launching an investigation into allegations that Thomas D. Schall used corruption in his 1924 senatorial campaign. He was a member of the five member committee that investigated Schall. The committee unanimously supported a report ruling in favor of Schall. In 1929, Johnson made a motion to expel Senator Ambrose Leo Lennon after Lennon was convicted of violating prohibition laws, but it failed.

Congressional campaigns and later life
Johnson sought the Republican nomination in the 1932 U.S. House of Representatives election, but lost in the primary. He was the first person to file for the primary. In 1934, he defeated Paul Freidrich Dehnel for the Republican nomination in the 2nd congressional district, but placed third behind Democratic nominee Elmer Ryan and incumbent Minnesota Farmer–Labor U.S. Representative Henry M. Arens in the election. He sought the Republican nomination in the 1936 election, but lost in the primary to Christian J. Laurisch. He sought the Republican nomination in 1938, but lost in the primary to Joseph P. O'Hara. He considered running as an independent in the 1940 election, but declined to do so.

Johnson was speculated as a possible candidate for the 1928 U.S. Senate election and for lieutenant governor or governor in the 1930 election. He ran as the Republican nominee for mayor of Mankato in 1935, but lost to Frank J. Mahowald. He supported Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1944 presidential election. He died on June 8, 1954.