John Gibbs

John Gibbs is an American far-right He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Personal life Gibbs was raised in the Pentecostal faith and served as a missionary in Japan after studying abroad there. Gibbs later converted to Catholicism and attends the Traditional Latin Mass.

Career Business Gibbs was employed by Symantec, Palm, and Apple as a software engineer. He worked in Japan for the evangelical Christian ministry WorldVenture for nearly seven years and is fluent in Japanese. he has a history of making false, inflammatory, and conspiratorial remarks on his Twitter feed, including numerous tweets promoting fringe concepts and figures. On four occasions, he spread the false conspiracy theory that John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, took part in a "Satanic ritual," a claim propagated by far-right bloggers. Later, during a Senate testimony, he said, "I regret that it's unfortunately become an issue."

Trump administration After working as a political commentator, Gibbs joined the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a political appointee and advisor to Secretary Ben Carson. He was a frequent contributor to The Federalist, a right-wing website, and wrote in support of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He endorsed the notion that incoming federal employees should be "loyal" to Trump. and then became acting assistant secretary in March 2020, replacing then-Principal Assistant Deputy Secretary David Woll as head of the agency.

In 2020, Trump nominated Gibbs to be director of the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce of about 2.1 million employees and acts as the executive branch's human resources function. During a September 2020 confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, In the final months of the Trump administration, Trump appointed Gibbs as a member of the administration's 1776 Commission.

After Trump was defeated in his bid for reelection in 2020, Gibbs promoted Trump's false claims that the election was "stolen" from him. Gibbs later continued to push election falsehoods while running for a seat in Congress in 2022. Trump endorsed Gibbs a few days after he announced his candidacy. The district is based in Grand Rapids. and falsely claimed that the 2020 election results were "mathematically impossible". He criticized Meijer for voting to impeach Trump, as well as for voting for supporting U.S. humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine and for voting in favor of bipartisan gun safety legislation following a gun massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. On August 2, 2022, Gibbs defeated Meijer in the primary election.

In September 2022, CNN reported that as a student at Stanford, Gibbs founded a self-described think tank called the Society for the Critique of Feminism. The group's webpage said that women do not " the characteristics necessary to govern" and that women should not have the right to vote. A spokesperson for the Gibbs campaign responded "Of course, John does not believe that women shouldn't vote or shouldn't work." Gibbs said the site "was made as a satire, of trolling against the liberals on campus."

In the general election, Democratic nominee Hillary Scholten flipped the district and defeated Gibbs, winning 55% to 42%.

Ottawa County Administrator In 2022, a new ultraconservative majority was elected to the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, as part of a slate supported by a group called Ottawa Impact. On January 3, 2023, the new commission—led by Chair Joe Moss and Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea, who co-founded Ottawa Impact—approved a resolution that fired the previous county administrator and immediately hired Gibbs.

Gibbs soon came into conflict with county commissioners and employees. It was later revealed that Gibbs' new hire was Jordan Epperson, an 23-year-old ultraconservative aide to Michigan legislator Neil Friske, a member of the "Grand New Party" far-right faction of Michigan Republicans. Gibbs had sought the creation of a "senior executive aide" in place of an earlier "executive assistant" position; Gibbs narrowly won the county commission's approval for the upgraded position (which cost an additional $37,000 in compensation) in March 2023.

In March, 2024, Gibbs sued the county board for multiple claims, including violation of the Michigan Whistleblower Protection Act and Breach of Contract.

On January 29, 2025, after more moderate Republicans won control of the Ottawa County board, it was reported that Gibbs and the board settled the lawsuit for $190,000. Gibbs' termination was rescinded and his employment file had all references to his termination removed. In addition, the board accepted Gibbs' resignation, retroactive to February 2024.

Electoral history