John Proos

John Proos (born December 10, 1969) is a Republican Senator representing the 21st district in the Michigan Senate. He previously served as the representative for the 79th District in the Michigan House of Representatives.

2004 Election

Proos was elected to the Michigan Legislature as a state representative for the 79th Michigan House District, which covers Northern Berrien County. Having never held political office previously, Proos edged out Berrien County Administrator Bill Wolf (R) in the primary election, in what some considered a political upset, winning by just 400 votes of the 16,000 that were cast. Proos went on to easily win the general election against opponent Princella Tobias (D) earning over 60-percent of the total votes cast.

2006 Election

Janet King (D) ran against Proos in the 2006 election. Proos won 65% of the vote.

2008 Election

Jim Hahn (D) ran against Proos in the 2008 election. Proos won 59.29% of the vote.

2010 Election

After serving his maximum six-years as member of the Michigan House of Representatives, Proos announced in February 2010 that he would be seeking the 21st Michigan State Senate seat being vacated by Ron Jelinek who would not be seeking re-election because of the state's term limit laws. Proos defeated Todd Griffee (R) in the Republican primary by a landslide margin, earning 77-percent of the total votes cast. Proos had similar success in the general election against his opponent Scott Elliott (D), earning nearly two-thirds of the total votes cast. At the time of the elections, Michigan's 21st Senate District included communities in Berrien, Cass and most of Van Buren Counties.