John H. Cox is a conservative talk show host and businessman from Chicago, Illinois who ran for President of the United States in 2008. He was the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy.[1] He is a candidate in the California gubernatorial election of 2018.
A millionaire, Cox is president of the Cox Financial Group in Chicago, a privately held business. He has previously run for political office several times, for the U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, and Cook County Recorder of Deeds. He lost the Republican primaries for both the Congress and Senate races, and lost the Cook County Recorder of Deeds race where he carried 41% of the vote against the Democratic Party incumbent. He has served as president of the Cook County Republican Party and on the boards of several charities including the USO.
He was not included in most of the televised national debates nor many polls, although he was included in the Iowa Straw Poll of August 11, 2007, where he placed last out of the 11 candidates included. The straw poll was won by Mitt Romney.
He participated in the Values Voter Debate where he received only two votes in the following straw poll.[2] The Values Voter Straw Poll was won by Conservative candidate, Mike Huckabee, who received 219 votes.