Rocha challenges Johnsen in Republican primary for 78th state House seat

LANSING — Hasting Republican Jon Rocha is challenging first-term state legislator Gina Johnsen in the August primary in the 78th District, representing Ionia County and portions of Eaton, Barry and Kent counties.

The winner will face Christine Terpening, a Vermontville Democrat, in the November general election.

The district includes the cities of Ionia, Saranac, Portland, Clarksville and Lake Odessa in Ionia County; Woodland, Hastings and Nashville in Barry County; and Sunfield and Mulliken, as well as Sunfield, Roxand and Kalamo townships in Eaton County.

Gina Johnsen

Johnsen was elected to her House seat in November 2022 . She is a Lansing Eastern High School graduate, has a bachelor’s degree in economics and international studies from Wellesley College, and was the director of the Michigan House of Prayer for 12 years. She is an insurance agent for Swan Retirement Partners and worked previously with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals as a program manager.

She is also the director of Michigan Pray, on the board of House of Promise, and executive director of Pregnancy Center of Eaton County. She also volunteers for Protect Life Mi and human trafficking awareness organization, Sak Saum.

She is running as a " pro-life, pro-family and common sense constitutional conservative ," and lists her priorities as a families first agenda, including education, health care freedom, jobs and election integrity. She supports voter ID at polls, the elimination of no-reason absentee voting and requiring the Secretary of State to clean up the voter rolls. A lifelong Michigan native, she believes “that parents have the right and responsibility to direct the education and healthcare choices of their children.”

Her campaign website notes she has helped start new Christian schools and has strengthen homeschool networks.

She is also a musician in Parted Waters Band.

Jon Rocha

Rocha, of Hastings, is a Barry County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy, Marine Corps veteran and a father of two children.

A graduate of Portage Northern High School, he served five years in the Marines. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in leadership from the State University of New York - Cortland, where he coached Division III football. He later coached at Western Michigan University while working on a master’s degree in leadership.

He worked in management in manufacturing in west Michigan until the COVID-19 pandemic, but lost his job, in his words, as a result of the pandemic and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “unlawful extensions of lockdown orders.”

He calls himself pro-life, and supports the 2 ^nd Amendment, farmers, election integrity and efforts to get critical race theory out of local schools.

He is opposed to illegal immigration and sanctuary cities . Inflation, he said, has been inflicted by Whitmer and President Joe Biden, and spending by the state Legislature.

Rocha ran for the seat in 2022 and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. He was among a number of candidates removed from ballots by state officials because they signed an affidavit to run for office, but had either outstanding fines or missing campaign finance reports at the time, a violation of campaign finance law.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Rocha challenges Johnsen in Republican primary for 78th state House seat