Sheldon Johnson, Jr. 2020 presidential campaign (Johnsonverse)

The 2020 presidential campaign of Sheldon Johnson, Jr. began on January 21, 2017, when he released a video announcing his candidacy in the 2020 Democratic party presidential primaries. Johnson, the former Governor of California, was the first prominent Democrat to announce a campaign for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, far earlier than other candidates; his campaign was announced the day after the inauguration of incumbent President Donald Trump. If elected, Johnson would be only the second President of the United States to hail from California.

Johnson is best described as a progressive, with a combination of both moderate and progressive ideals, and plans on appealing to both sides of the Democratic party, as well as independents and disillusioned Republicans. He has gone on record as stating he will "make hardcore changes to America"; his platform focuses on changes he plans to make, and his slogans even reflect this.

Other themes of his campaign are his disdain for political correctness and false news reporting from both sides of the political spectrum. His positions include codifying Roe v. Wade into statute, a public option for health insurance, decriminalization of recreational cannabis, passing the Equality Act, free community college, the repealment of Directive-type Memorandum-19-004, and a $1.7 trillion climate plan embracing the framework of the Green New Deal, among many other positions.

The campaign was also notable for its young leadership; when the campaign began in 2017, manager Andrew Lachlan and chief of staff Arthur Turner were only 13 and 14 years old, respectively. The pair, and other young staffers, developed an online identity and fanbase as the "Johnson Teens".

As the former CEO of Johnson Industries, Johnson entered the race with very high name recognition. From his campaign announcement, he has been the candidate most identified as the frontrunner. He has led most national polls since the start of his campaign. On April 15, 2020, Johnson became the presumptive Democratic nominee after former vice president Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

Johnson passed the threshold of 1,991 delegates to formally secure the nomination at the Democratic National Convention on June 5, 2020.

Speculation
After Johnson denied rumors that he would run for president in 2016 (due to him feeling that he couldn't shake the loyal base built by eventual Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton), there was speculation that he was planning on running in 2020. After Donald Trump was elected, Johnson teased a potential 2020 run in an interview, saying "You never know when a guy like me takes the fight to that madman". He teased a 2020 run again on January 1, 2017, with a picture of him in front of an American flag wearing an IMAG (an acronym for "Immigrants Make America Great") hat.

Announcement
On January 21, 2017, one day after Trump was sworn in, Johnson, again wearing an IMAG hat, released a YouTube video stating that he would run for President in 2020. He cited Trump himself as the reason, calling him "the next Caligula" and "someone whose actions will be his own undoing". He announced that he would make changes to the country, and stated that he pledged to be "the best leader I can possibly be".

Political rallies
Johnson made his first rally in San Jose, CA on June 24, 2017. He swore to make "big, big, big changes". He made additional rallies across California throughout 2017 and early 2018. On June 29, 2018, Johnson made his first speech outside of California in Phoenix, AZ.

Early primary election results
Johnson won the Iowa caucuses on February 3, 2020.

Final debate and presumed nomination
Leading up to the 11th Democratic presidential debate, Johnson announced several new policies. The debate was held on March 15, 2020, and was the first to feature only the race's three lead finalists. Johnson announced that if he secured the nomination, he would choose a female running mate "with enough experience and charisma", having previously hinted as such by naming several contenders (he has also stated that, in case he doesn't think said candidate would do well in debates, he would coach her to compete with Mike Pence), and that upon inauguration, he would select a diverse cabinet, including, as Johnson stated, “Republicans who don't have Stockholm syndrome”.

On March 25, when asked whether he would debate Biden and Sanders again, Johnson said, "With this pandemic going on right now, I need to put all my time and effort on getting through this instead of continuing debates with anyone else not named Donald John Trump". On April 3, Johnson announced that his campaign would unveil a committee to vet prospective vice presidential candidates later in the month. On April 15, after Biden suspended his campaign, Johnson became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

On July 4, Politico reported that Trump was "trailing [Johnson] by double digits in recent polls". The same day, musician and entrepreneur Kanye West announced his campaign for the presidency. According to the Los Angeles Times, "It's unclear whether West has filed any of the necessary paperwork to formally join the race between incumbent Donald Trump — for whom West has expressed admiration", and this "might be part of an effort to draw Black supporters away from Johnson to help Trump." In mid-July, a Washington Post–ABC News poll showed Johnson's double-digit lead holding.

COVID-19 outbreak
When the COVID-19 outbreak spread to the United States in 2020, Johnson canceled all of his planned rallies, and instead held his speeches via Zoom meetings with supporters who subscribed to his campaign newsletter, which he referred to as "quarantine rallies". He voiced his support for vote-by-mail in a speech on April 19, 2020. On April 23, Johnson said in a podcast that he thinks Trump will attempt to delay the 2020 election, adding that "Yes, I know that it can only be done by Congress, as I have studied the government for years, but this is a madman who thinks he's above our Constitution that we're talking about here. One who would be more than happy to commit criminal acts of sabotage to stay in power", and that "Russia most definitely interfered in 2016, and I guarantee you 100% that my old 'friends' in the Kremlin will do the same for this election".

On June 3, 2020, Johnson started making speeches outside of his house again, though he did them inside buildings and with fewer audience members, all wearing masks and spread out with circles of tape around their seats to practice social distancing.

Endorsements
As tracked by FiveThirtyEight, Johnson has received the most support from prominent members of the Democratic Party out of all Democratic candidates in the 2020 presidential election. He has received endorsements from 20 former candidates in the 2020 race, including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bloomberg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke, Andrew Yang, and others, as well as former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. On April 27, 2020, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi endorsed him. On April 28, former 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton endorsed him, as did Phil Stacker, who had served as the Lieutenant Governor of California under Johnson. He has also received endorsements from key Republican figures such as Colin Powell, as well as the Right Side PAC, which was formed by several GOP members to convince Republicans to vote for Johnson.

Political positions
For more, see Campaign Promises of Sheldon Johnson, Jr. (Johnsonverse)

Johnson seeks to make many changes to the country, and has his campaign built around this. For example, in one of his speeches, he has said that "to truly save our country, we'll need to change it".

Planned changes
Some of Johnson's proposed changes were criticized by Republicans such as Vice President Mike Pence, who went so far as to call him a "Trojan horse for a radical agenda". Radio host Rush Limbaugh, a staunch critic of Johnson, urged his followers to boycott all Johnson properties. Political commentator Dinesh D'Souza called him a "neo-Nazi".