GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson has turned his eyes to the White House.

Johnson, a Republican businessman from southeastern Michigan, filed Thursday to create a committee to consider a run for president and he’s spending $192,000 to run Super Bowl ads in Iowa.

He added he would be headed to Iowa next week, setting up an office there and buying more ads.

“The Democrats gave Iowa the middle finger,” Johnson said in a statement, referencing the recent shakeup in the order of Democratic presidential primaries, “but we are going to give Iowa the respect and attention it deserves in its historic role as the leadoff state for our Republican Party.”

Johnson was considered a Republican frontrunner to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the 2022 election, but his campaign was derailed when the state elections bureau determined he didn’t submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Former President Donald Trump has announced his campaign for the 2024 presidential election. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also widely expected to run for the Republican nomination, though he hasn’t yet made it official. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has not yet said whether he will run again but observers say the contents of his State of the Union speech earlier this week indicated he will.

In a statement, Johnson established government spending as the core of his platform.
He blamed “Washington D.C. elite fat cats” for borrowing and wasting too much money and tied that to inflation.

“I proudly supported President Trump in 2016 and 2020 and could very easily support him in 2024,” Johnson stated. “If we’re being candid however, the politicians of both political parties have failed to provide adequate solutions to the most pressing problem facing our country: runaway spending and the inflation that came with it.”