Perry Johnson talks 2026 Michigan gubernatorial campaign ahead of primary

Michigan's gubernatorial primary election day is Aug. 4, and Republicans will choose between businessman Perry Johnson and U.S. Rep. John James.

As part of CBS News Detroit's 2026 election coverage, we invited Johnson to sit down with Shaina Humphries, CBS News Detroit anchor. 

Shaina Humphries: You've spent your entire career dealing with efficiency, developing quality controls for the auto industry. How does that experience translate to running an entire state government?

Perry Johnson: Well, actually, my experience covers all organizations. One of my first biggest contracts was with the Navy. And then I've worked with DoD, and I have worked with over 60,000 companies. So it's really important to understand that when we talk about the overall state government, you have two different areas: one area relates to Congress, where they are passing bills and a budget, but then you have the civilian workforce, and that civilian workforce is a workforce just like any other workforce. 

And you have to get quality and efficiency out of the workforce, and they're there forever, one administration after the other, after the other, so you have two different areas. What we need to do is to realize that we need to lean our government because, frankly, they're very inefficient, and they don't really have any controls. And the bottom line is, I have spent my entire life bringing quality and efficiency to these groups, and I want to do it with state government. 

Now, I have a MEGA audit — the Michigan Efficiency Government Audit — that we would apply so that we can look at all of the evidence, because I have a basic goal — and people probably know this goal. I need to lean the government so that we can eliminate the state income tax and reform the property tax. Now, if we eliminate the state income tax, a typical family will end up getting $4,747 every year. We have to also factor in that it's not fair that people turning 65 are in a position where they've finally paid off their home, and now, they can't even afford to live there because of the onerous property taxes. Now, the only reason we have that is the government has become very, very inefficient.

SH: So, let's say you eliminate the state income tax. That brings in about $13 billion, so how do you realistically cut out that revenue without cutting funding to education, law enforcement, infrastructure?

PJ: No, actually, let's take a look at it. I'm just going to give you just a brief couple of things. And I haven't even done my MEGA audit. We'll start with the fact that you know that there was about $9 billion in fraud that they detected in Minnesota, and we're about twice their size. But let's ignore that. Let's take a look at the $1.8 billion that was allocated to the MEDC because they were going to create jobs. Now this is a fact — they did allocate $1.8 billion, which is about $400 for every working person in the state. They created 602 jobs. That's $3 million a job. An example of this was brought up in the debate — John James' company got $2 million, they had five years in which they said they were going to go and get 100 additional jobs. They got no additional jobs, and they actually released 32 people. There was no clawback; they still have that $2 million. 

We have company after company like that. Let's take another billion dollars that was spent trying to improve the speed of the Amtrak train by 10%. They didn't even achieve it. That's another billion dollars out the window. Then we have a billion dollars, we decided just throw at every year because we wanted to improve the quality of reading for fourth graders and under. Now we know that's important — it's probably one of the most important things in the entire agenda. But you know what? We went from 26th in the country to 44th in the country. We got worse. Why? Because we eliminated phonics. What about our roads? We were going to improve the roads, right? Are they any better? No. Because you had to start out first by doing an efficiency audit, and then you find out where to spend your money.

SH: Okay, well, while we are talking about money, you're self-funding your campaign. You did the same two years ago and four years ago. A lot of Michiganders are struggling to pay for gas and groceries, and their rising utility bills, so why should those people place their trust in someone who has $20 million to spend on a campaign when it comes to those issues? How should they trust you have their interests at heart?

PJ: Okay, well, let me tell you my real story. I grew up in a 600-square-foot home. My parents did not have the money to send me to college. I worked in the steel mill, worked my way through it. When I went to grad school, I was in a position where I was going to be evicted. I needed $1,300, or all my stuff was being thrown in the street. I called my best friend, Mike Sorini, he was in med school at the time. Here we are. Two smart guys, but broke — stone broke, and I said we need to get a bridge game together with Pino Wiser. We had finished — we were representing the U.S. in the Olympiad, so he wanted to play us. I said I have to do it tonight, I know I have no time, but I'm going to get thrown in the street. I had to make the $1,300 check out to the court. I was in positions where I couldn't afford a sub sandwich.

SH: So you've been here before, is what you're saying.

PJ: Broke! I've been broker than anybody I've ever known. I've been in a situation where I didn't even have a car, and here I have nothing, and I'm about to be thrown in the street, so yes, I know what it's like, and I feel their pain. And when you've been there, and you've been in that kind of environment, you have an entirely different perspective. Now we're all talking about all the stuff, but we have to feel the people's pain because right now, you have people hurting. Think about it.

SH: Unfortunately, we are short on time, but I do appreciate you diving into that answer.