Clarksdale’s Pete Johnson, a former State Auditor and the first major statewide elected official to switch to the Republican Party in Mississippi, passed away Monday afternoon.
Patrick Hayes “Pete” Johnson was born May 12, 1948 in Louisiana and he grew up watching the politics of both his grandfather and uncle who served as Governors of Mississippi. Johnson often visited the Governor’s Mansion as a teenager.
Educated at the University of Mississippi, he obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Jackson School of Law in 1974 and joined the Bank of Clarksdale as a vice president before forming a financial planning firm.
He married Margaret Birdsong and they have two daughters Mary Margaret and Anne Clark.
Johnson was initially a member of the Democratic Party and he twice ran to represent Mississippi's Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1982 and 1986, and lost in the Democratic primaries to Robert G. Clark Jr., and Mike Espy, respectively.
In 1984, Governor William Allain appointed him Chairman of the Mississippi Marketing Council, a major economic development agency for the state.
On May 28, 1987, he declared his candidacy for the office of State Auditor. He secured the Democratic nomination and defeated his Republican opponent in the general election.
At that time Mississippi was plagued with corrupt county officials who took kick-backs for everything from culverts to gravel. Before taking office, Johnson appointed a Committee on Reform of County Government. He assumed the auditor's office on Jan. 7, 1988 and went to work.
Early on in his tenure, he led anti-corruption efforts that helped usher in the County Unit system that consolidated county services and saved county taxpayers millions, while enforcing uniform accounting practices and implementing a simple and uniform bid process that is still used today.
In early 1989, Johnson announced he was joining the Republican Party, thus making him the first Republican to hold statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era.
He later attributed his decision to switch on the election of moderate Republican George H. W. Bush to the presidency, as well as encouragement from U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.
In 1991 Johnson would run for Governor and was narrowly defeated by Kirk Fordice, who would go on to be elected the state’s first Republican Governor since Reconstruction.
He served as Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) from 2002 to 2011. Johnson said he would only serve in the post, that managed federal programs in counties along the entire length of the Mississippi River, if the offices were put in Clarksdale. DRA offices have occupied the top floor of the Federal Building, also known as the Post Office, in Clarksdale since that time.
Johnson passed away shortly after President Donald Trump, a Republican, was sworn into office Monday.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced at this time.
A complete story will be published in the Clarksdale Press Register on Thursday. An obituary will be posted on the Press Register website as soon as it is formalized and made available.
