Harold T. Johnson

Harold Terry "Bizz" Johnson (December 2, 1907 – March 16, 1988) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Congressman from California from 1959 to 1981. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Biography Born in Broderick, California, Johnson earned his lifelong nickname "Bizz" at age four when his uncle observed him leading the other children and compared him to Bismarck. He attended public school in Roseville and the University of Nevada. He worked for the Pacific Fruit Express Company, starting as a clerk before rising to a supervisory position, and was a district chairman of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks.

Johnson entered politics as a trustee of the Roseville school board in 1941, was elected to the Roseville city council in 1943, and served as mayor of Roseville. In 1948, he was elected to the California State Senate representing Placer, Nevada and Sierra counties. In the legislature, he supported the creation of a four-lane highway across the Sierra Nevada that eventually became Interstate 80. He also sponsored legislation to ensure that the 1960 Winter Olympics would be held in Squaw Valley.

Johnson was reelected by comfortable margins, even as the district turned more conservative. However, Johnson lost reelection to Republican state assemblyman Eugene A. Chappie in 1980 on the back of former California Governor Ronald Reagan's strong victory in that year's presidential election, falling to only 32 percent of the vote. After his defeat, he continued to lobby for uncompleted projects that had been authorized when he in office. Johnson led the transformation of the longest rail to trail project in California.

Electoral history