Harold Johnson

Harold Johnson (born ) is an American sportscaster. He was sports director for WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina for 26 years, during which time he won four Emmy Awards and was nominated for two others. He was the 2010 Republican nominee for .

Early life, education and career Johnson was born in Camden, New Jersey While at WSIC, he met Jim Thacker of WBTV, where he acted as weekend sports anchor and later worked nights. On WBT, he was morning co-host with Bob Lacey and the play-by-play announcer and pre-game host for the Charlotte Hornets of the World Football League. He also covered the Masters Golf Tournament for ABC radio.

Johnson retired from WSOC in 2006 to spend more time with his family.

In 2009, The Charlotte Observer named Johnson as number one on the newspaper's list of top sportscasters in Charlotte. Langston Wertz Jr. said "His 'big guy' persona was ESPN before there was ESPN."

Political activity Johnson is a Republican. In 1986, he was asked to host a rally at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport during a visit by then-President Ronald Reagan. Johnson also criticized "big government spending" and "absence of leadership". To create jobs, he hoped to lower taxes and offer incentives. He officially filed as a candidate on February 23, 2010. Though he had less money to spend than some of his five Republican competitors, and he was new to the district, Johnson hoped to take advantage of his familiarity to TV viewers in the western part of the district, which stretches from Concord to Fayetteville.

On May 4, 2010, Johnson received 33 percent of the vote compared to 37 percent for Tim D'Annunzio; he then defeated D'Annunzio by 22 points in a bitterly contested runoff on June 22, 2010.

Late polling in the general election showed Johnson within a point of Kissell, and several experts called the race a tossup. Ultimately, Kissell was reelected fairly convincingly, taking 53 percent of the vote to Johnson's 44 percent.

Later broadcast career , Johnson co-hosted a morning show on WSIC in Statesville, he has since retired.

Electoral history