Kelly D. Johnston


Kelly D. Johnston is a former Secretary of the United States Senate. He served as the 28th Secretary of the Senate and was nominated by Bob Dole, who was Senate Majority Leader at the time. He was the first Secretary of the Senate from Oklahoma and the second youngest ever chosen.
Until 2018, Johnston was Vice President of Government Affairs for the Campbell Soup Company. He was forced to resign after claiming that billionaire philanthropist George Soros' foundation had supported and planned a caravan of migrants "including where they defecate." Johnstone was also a member of the board of Congressional Management Foundation.

Early life

Born in Edmond, Oklahoma in 1956, Johnston graduated from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in 1976 with a bachelor's in Communications and Drama, where he also served as President of the Student Association and as Editor of the Trend, the student newspaper. Before beginning his career in Washington, DC, he was a newspaper reporter for the Bartlesville, Oklahoma Examiner-Enterprise, and served briefly as Managing Editor of the Henryetta, Oklahoma Free-Lance, where under his leadership, the newspaper won four awards for photography and journalism from the Oklahoma Press Association.
Before his nomination as Secretary, he served as Executive Director of the US Senate Republican Policy Committee, part of the US Senate Republican leadership, then chaired by US Senator Don Nickles. Prior to that, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the US Department of Transportation under Secretaries Samuel Skinner and Andrew Card during the Administration of President George H. W. Bush.
During the 1990 elections, he was a regional political director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where he worked on the reelection campaigns of several incumbent Republican Senators. Before joining the NRSC, Johnston was chief of staff to then-US Representative Jon Kyl, Communications Director to US Representative John Hiler, and a staff assistant to US Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt. He also served as a Regional Political Director at the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 1984 and 1986 congressional elections. He has worked in some capacity in 35 US Senate or House campaigns in 25 states.

Secretary of the Senate

Johnston served as Secretary of the United States Senate from June 8, 1995, until September 30, 1996. During his tenure, he advocated for the creation of the Capitol Visitor Center and implemented two reform laws, the Lobby Disclosure Act and Congressional Accountability Act.

Later career

In December 1996 President Bill Clinton nominated Johnston to serve on the Federal Election Commission, but the United States Senate, led by a Republican majority, failed to take up the nomination for a confirmation vote.
From 1996 to 2002, Johnston served as Executive Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications for the National Food Processors Association. On October 26, 2018, he retired from his position as Vice President of Government Affairs for the Campbell Soup Company of Camden, New Jersey.
In 2009, Johnston became Chairman of the Canadian-American Business Council.