Johnson, Nancy (Nancy Lee), 1935-

Nancy Elizabeth Lee Johnson (born January 5, 1935) is an American lobbyist and politician from the state of Connecticut. A member of the Republican Party, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2007.

Born in Chicago, she graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory School (high school) in 1953, and from Radcliffe College of Harvard University in 1957. She attended the University of London's Courtauld Institute of Art in 1957 and 1958. She was an active volunteer in the schools and social service agencies of her community, before serving in the Connecticut Senate from 1977 to 1983. At the urging of colleagues, Johnson elected to run for an open U.S. House seat in 1982. With a campaign that reflected the limited government philosophy of the Ronald Reagan administration but largely stayed out of the culture wars, Johnson prevailed.

A moderate Republican, Johnson called herself "an independent voice in Washington", although she frequently supported the mainstream Republican agenda. Some nonpartisan observers such as National Journal rated her near the ideological midpoint in the House, although others, like the American Conservative Union rated her as a moderate conservative. The ACU gave Johnson's 2005 voting record 40 points out of 100; the liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave her 35 points. In general, she was moderate-to-liberal on social issues and conservative on economic ones.

Following her career in Congress, in 2007 Johnson became a resident fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics. She also served as co-chair of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a public policy think tank. In October 2007, Johnson endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's bid for the Republican presidential nomination. In 2013, Johnson was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.