| John H. Willis | |
| State Senate1: | Arizona |
| District1: | Navajo County |
| Term Start1: | March 1912 |
| Term End1: | January 1915 |
| Predecessor1: | First Senator from Navajo County |
| Successor1: | D. D. Crabb |
| Nationality: | American |
| Party: | Republican |
| Profession: | Politician |
John H. Willis was a politician from Arizona who served in the 1st Arizona State Legislature.[1]
Willis lived in Snowflake, Arizona, and in 1892 was nominated by the Republicans for probate judge of Apache County, which contained Snowflake at that time.[2] He was a cattle rancher.[3] Willis married Carrie Haynes on November 26, 1891.[4]
In 1894, Willis was elected to the Apache County Board of Supervisors.[5] After Navajo County was split from Apache County in 1895, Willis was appointed to serve on the Board of Supervisors of the newly created county.[6] In 1896, when the first election was held, Willis was nominated by the Republicans to serve on the board of supervisors of the new county.[7] The following year, he was selected to serve as the president of that body.[8] In November 1897, Willis resigned from the board of supervisors in order to go on his two-year LDS mission to the Southern States.[9] [10]
Upon return from his mission in 1900, the Republicans nominated Willis once again for the board of supervisors.[11] In the November general election he came in second, slightly in front of Democrat John Hunt, 259–254, giving him one of the two supervisor positions.[12] He was again nominated by the Republicans in 1902 for the board of supervisors,[13] however in the general election he came in third, behind Democrat R. C. Creswell, and his fellow Republican F. F. Flickinger. Creswell received 326 votes, Flickinger 305, and Willis 287.[14] In 1908 he won the Republican nomination to run for the territorial house of representatives, but lost in the general election to Democrat Joseph Peterson, 445–238.[15] [16]
1911 saw Willis nominated for the house of representatives by the Republicans, but this was for the state, not territorial house.[17] Unlike the 1908 election, Willis defeated his Democratic opponent, William Morgan, 398–327.[18] Willis did not run for re-election in 1914.[19]