RELATED: Low voter turnout yielded Michigan House upset for 25-year-old, runner-up says

Steven Johnson didn't have a job. So he decided to run for office.

Now, the self-proclaimed "Constitutional conservative" who calls U.S. Rep. Justin Amash his role model appears headed for the Michigan House.

In a 5-way primary Tuesday, Aug. 2, Johnson topped restaurant owner Tony Noto and a Kentwood schoolteacher who was backed by the DeVos family and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. The Wayland-area man won 30 percent of the vote, dominating in Allegan County to surpass the runner-up, Noto, by 509 votes.

"I'm shocked because I'm not supposed to win this thing," said Johnson, 25, who has campaigned six days a week since May. "We knocked on doors like you wouldn't believe. We had a good message of strong Constitutional conservatism.

"I think it's a desire to get back to our Constitutional principles, our Judeo-Christian heritage. People are just kind of fed up with where we're going."

Johnson in November's general election will face Democrat Steve Shoemaker. The winner will replace term-limited state Rep. Ken Yonker, R-Caledonia.

The 72nd District, which covers Kentwood and Gaines Township, and part of Allegan including Wayland, leans Republican.

Johnson won 42 percent of the vote in Allegan County, 500 votes clear of former Kent County Commissioner Bill Hirsch and 600 votes ahead of Noto. Noto fared best in Kent County, but Johnson was only 93 votes behind.

"That area (of the district in Gaines Township in Kent County) was perfect for me, it really was," said Johnson, a South Christian High School alum who is part of a Christian Reformed church. "That's like CRC headquarters."

The chamber and the DeVos family supported Ryan Gallogly, a Kentwood schoolteacher who finished third, 700 votes behind. Hirsch finished fourth and Kentwood city commissioner Robert Coughlin was fifth.

Here's how Johnson responded to questions in MLive's Voter Guide. He vows not to raise taxes, opposes Common Core, wants to reduce business regulation and steer the state away "from the dangerous transgender policy that lets men into girl's locker rooms."

Johnson said he interned for a month last summer for then-state Rep. Cindy Gamrat, before she was expelled by the Legislature. He then moved to Alaska and worked at a handyman business before moving back to Michigan and deciding to seek election while finishing a degree at Liberty University, the Virginia school founded by Jerry Falwell.

Johnson called Amash "the best congressman in the country."

"I'm so bummed he didn't endorse me," he said.