Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold. He was reelected in 2016, defeating Feingold in a rematch, and in 2022, narrowly defeating Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

Born in Mankato, Minnesota, Johnson attended high school in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, and received a degree from the University of Minnesota. Before entering politics, he was chief executive officer of a polyester and plastics manufacturer in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, founded by his brother-in-law.

A staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Johnson voted for Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, supported Trump’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), launched investigations into his political opponents and promoted false claims of fraud in relation to Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election. He has rejected the scientific consensus on climate change. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson voted for the CARES Act, resisted stay at home orders, used his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to invite witnesses who promoted fringe theories about COVID-19 and spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations. He has also suggested Social Security and Medicare spending be subject to an annual congressional vote.

Ronald Harold Johnson^[1] was born on April 8, 1955, in Mankato, Minnesota, to Jean and Dale Johnson.^[2] His mother was a film processor and his father was a treasurer, both corporately and for the church.^[1][3] In his youth, Johnson worked in the shipping department of a school yearbook company,^[3] as a newspaper delivery boy, a caddie, a hay baler on his uncle’s farm, a dishwasher, and the night manager of a restaurant.^[4] He attended Edina High School but skipped his senior year^[3] and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in business and accounting.^[1] Johnson began working as an accountant while studying for a Master of Business Administration, but he ended his studies in 1979 to enter business.^[4]

Johnson moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1979 so he could help establish the PACUR plastic company with his brother-in-law.^[4] He worked with the company as a machine operator and an accountant.^[1] He lived five minutes away from work and went home each day for lunch.^[3] The company later expanded into specialty plastics used in medical device packaging, which involved hiring salespeople and exporting products to other countries.^[5] In the mid-1980s, Pat Curler left PACUR and Johnson became its CEO. In 1987, the Curler family sold PACUR to Bowater Industries for $18 million; Johnson remained the company’s CEO. In 1997, he purchased PACUR from Bowater; he remained CEO until he was elected to the Senate in 2010.^[6]

In October 2009, Michelle Litjens invited Johnson to speak at an Oshkosh rally associated with the Tea Party movement.^[7] He was asked to speak about his experiences as a businessman regarding government regulation, but extended the scope of his speech to health care reform and his daughter’s heart defect. The speech was well-received by the conservative movement and gained him political support.^[8] Afterward, he reached out to Litjens to help him launch a campaign for the United States Senate.^[7] Johnson’s wife took convincing, saying “absolutely not” when he first raised the idea.^[3]

Johnson announced his candidacy in the 2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin a week before the May 15 Republican convention.^[9] It was his first run for elected office.^[10] He cited his opposition to the Affordable Care Act as his reason for running, saying it was “the greatest assault on our freedom in my lifetime”.^[8][4] Johnson first became known statewide with the assistance of conservative political commentator Charlie Sykes (Sykes opposed Johnson years later when Johnson embraced Donald Trump).^[7][11] The Republicans’ late start meant that the nominee’s campaign would need to be largely self-funded, which gave Johnson an advantage with his personal wealth.^[12]

The other major Republican candidate for the Senate nomination, Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce Dick Leinenkugel, withdrew during the convention and gave a surprise endorsement to Johnson.^[9][13] Johnson also gained the support of Senator Jim DeMint, who held influence over the support received by Republican candidates.^[14] Johnson won the Republican primary in September with 85% of the vote, defeating Dave Westlake and Stephen Finn, who received 10% and 5%, respectively. Johnson’s other opponent, Terrence Wall, dropped out of the race after accusing Johnson of bribing the convention to select him.^[12]

Wisconsin had long been a competitive state where both Democratic and Republican candidates were viable.^[15] The Democratic nominee in the general election, Russ Feingold, was the incumbent and had won his previous race by 11 points.^[16] Before Johnson’s candidacy, Feingold was expected to be reelected.^[9][17] Feingold’s polling advantage dissipated in July.^[18] Johnson took a massive lead in the polls in September, but his lead shrank in the days leading up to the election.^[19] Johnson’s campaign was concerned about his debates against Feingold, an experienced public speaker, so they began practicing a month in advance in what Johnson called “murder sessions”. Both candidates were seen as having performed well in the three debates.^[20]

In 2010, Citizens United v. FEC affirmed the right of organizations to spend on political campaigns, and nearly all of the race’s outside funds were in support of Johnson.^[21] Johnson’s campaign spent approximately $15 million, including $8.7 million of his own money.^[19] In June 2011, his financial disclosures showed that PACUR had paid him $10 million in deferred compensation in early 2011. The compensation covered the period from 1997 to 2011, during which he took no salary from PACUR. Johnson said that, as CEO, he had personally determined the amount and that it was unrelated to the contributions he had made to his campaign.^[22][23]

Johnson ran as a political outsider and small-business owner while criticizing Feingold as a Washington insider.^[24][25] His messaging emphasized fiscal responsibility,^[26] including job creation and reduction of the national debt.^[20] Johnson worked with the Tea Party movement in his campaign. Although the Tea Party movement had mixed opinions of Johnson because he did not share its strict reading of the Constitution, his campaign had its backing and is often identified with its support.^[27][28]

Johnson rarely went into detail on policy plans.^[29] He declined to say how he would reduce the federal budget if elected, saying he was not going to “start naming things to be attacked about”.^[29] He took controversial positions on several issues, and the campaign avoided frequent public appearances after a series of gaffes. His endorsement of the oil industry was scrutinized after it was discovered he owned $100,000 of stock in BP, and his denial of the scientific consensus on climate change became a national scandal. He walked back statements in which he said he supported firearms licenses and supported drilling for oil in the Great Lakes, describing himself as a political novice who misspoke.^[18] He later falsely accused Feingold of supporting Great Lakes drilling on the basis that he voted against a Republican-backed energy bill that included a provision that banned Great Lakes drilling.^[30]

Johnson campaigned against the Recovery Act and the Affordable Care Act passed by the Obama administration.^[31] He launched his campaign by telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the United States “would have been far better off not spending any of the money and [letting] the recovery happen as it was going to happen.” The newspaper later reported that the education council Johnson led considered applying for stimulus money in 2009, but ultimately elected not to. The Johnson campaign said that nonprofits consider “many possibilities” but that the council “made no application” for stimulus funds.^[32]

Johnson’s campaign ran a successful series of television advertisements, including ads where his children praised him, where he called the national debt “inter-generational theft”, and where he criticized the Senate for having 57 lawyers and not enough manufacturers or accountants.^[33] His ads avoided controversial issues.^[28] In the final two months of the campaign, Johnson ran more advertisements than any other national Senate candidate, followed by Feingold with the second-most.^[34]

Johnson was elected to the United States Senate with 51.9% of the vote to Feingold’s 47.0%.^[35] The 2010 elections were favorable to the Republican Party, which saw victories across the nation and especially in Wisconsin.^[36][37] Candidates without previous political experience, such as Johnson, also did particularly well in 2010.^[12]

After he was elected, Johnson sold the majority of his liquid assets, retaining a 401(k) account and a 5% share of PACUR that he held until 2020. He also continued receiving payments from the company. He said creating a blind trust was not feasible because his family would still own it.^[38]

Upon entering the Senate, Johnson was appointed to the Committee on the Budget and Committee on Appropriations.^[14] He sought the position of vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference in December 2011, but Roy Blunt was selected with 25 votes to Johnson’s 22 votes.^[14]

In his first term, Johnson was mainly identified with his focus on federal spending and the national debt. He involved himself in fiscal issues and quickly became an influential member of the Senate in this area.^[39] Johnson opposed the budget cuts Representative Paul Ryan proposed in 2011 because he felt the budget needed to be cut even further, and he stalled a bill authorizing military action in Libya in protest of the budget.^[4] During negotiations, he called for the discussions to take place openly, saying that the closed-door talks were “outrageous” and “disgusting”.^[40]

Johnson stepped down from the Committee on Appropriations in 2013 because he objected to the other committee members’ permissiveness toward spending, and joined the Committee on Foreign Relations.^[14] He became chair of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and after the 2012 Benghazi attack, was one of the most prominent critics of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s handling of it.^[4] His argument with Clinton during a hearing created fuel for later Republican attack ads against her, though he caused backlash for accusing Clinton of faking her emotional state.^[39] Johnson also used his position on the committee to investigate overuse of painkillers by the Department of Veterans Affairs^[41] and to facilitate the passage of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Act of 2015 that updated the warning system of the same name.^[4]

In January 2013, Johnson voted for the fiscal cliff agreement that reduced pending tax increases and delayed spending cuts precipitated by the 2011 debt ceiling deal.^[39] He was one of nine Republican senators who voted for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013.^[42] In 2016, he voted to establish a financial oversight board for Puerto Rican debt.^[43]

Johnson was unexpectedly appointed as a representative to a session of the United Nations General Assembly by President Barack Obama in 2014 despite Johnson’s opposition to both Obama and the United Nations.^[44]

Johnson was one of three senators to oppose an increase in funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2014, which he said was passed too quickly without consideration of offsetting the expenses.^[45]

Johnson advocated greater international action against Ebola in 2014 during the Western African Ebola epidemic.^[44]

Johnson sued the United States Office of Personnel Management in 2014 to challenge the subsidies that the Affordable Care Act provided to members of Congress and their staff. His lawsuit alleged that it inflicted him with administrative burden, that it gave him an unfair benefit over his constituents, and that it was “an unlawful scheme”. The case was dismissed when Judge William C. Griesbach found that Johnson lacked standing because no injury took place.^[46]

Johnson became known for his gaffes as he served in the Senate.^[47] In his first term, he called Governor Nikki Haley an “immigrant” because she was of Indian descent; commented on the death of Antonin Scalia by posting a photo of an actor depicting Scalia; accused The Lego Movie of being anti-capitalist and called it “insidious”; said that public school students are “idiot inner-city kids”; compared the choice to reelect him to the choice made by the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93; accused “poor single moms” of taking jobs in daycare centers to watch their own children; and said that history teachers could be replaced by Ken Burns documentaries.^[48]

In 2016, Johnson rejected Donald Trump’s allegations that the upcoming election would be rigged.^[49]

In March 2013, Johnson announced that he would seek reelection in 2016. In November 2014, he was again endorsed by the fiscally conservative Club for Growth;^[50] that month, he said he would not self-finance his reelection bid.^[51] He ran unopposed in the Republican primary election.^[52] He had low name recognition for an incumbent seeking reelection, with 23 percent of voters having no opinion on him.^[53]

The 2016 Democratic nominee was again Feingold. Feingold led in polling until the weeks leading up to the election and was widely expected to win.^[54] In December 2014, the Washington Post rated Johnson the most vulnerable incumbent U.S. senator in the 2016 election cycle.^[55]

Senate Republicans believed Johnson’s campaign was not viable enough to justify supporting, so he turned to the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives and worked with Speaker Paul Ryan.^[56] To improve Johnson’s chances, Ryan expressed willingness to campaign with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump despite their animosity toward each other. He was turned down.^[57] Johnson felt neglected by the Republican Party and deemed its support inadequate.^[58]

Johnson made his support for small government a key element of his campaign,^[59] and his campaign used a get out the vote approach to gain voters.^[54] In contrast with his previous campaign, Johnson did not campaign on repealing the Affordable Care Act.^[60] Johnson avoided tying himself to Trump until Trump’s support in Wisconsin became apparent.^[61] Johnson reused his 2010 campaign strategy of presenting himself as a businessman and a political outsider while portraying Feingold as a career politician.^[62] He also touted his work with the faith-based Joseph Project jobs program.^[58] He argued that Feingold was a hypocrite for accepting campaign funds from outside Wisconsin despite advocating campaign finance reform.^[63][4]

Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination was ongoing during the campaign, and Johnson campaigned on his support for confirming a more conservative nominee so the court would uphold the right to bear arms.^[64]

Johnson hired his brother Dean Johnson, a television executive producer, to assist in his campaign.^[58] The campaign’s TV ads included one where he facilitated a couple’s adoption of a child from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and one where he changed his grandson’s diaper as the infant urinated on him.^[65]

Johnson was reelected with 50.2% of the vote to Feingold’s 46.8%.^[66] He performed well with rural, white, male voters without college degrees.^[54] His margin of victory was bigger than Trump’s in Wisconsin, having won by larger margins in the Minneapolis suburbs.^[58]

Johnson moved farther to the right during his second term and expressed support for political conspiracy theories.^[67][68][2] He became a close ally of the Trump administration, though he disagreed with the administration on economic issues.^[69] He opposed the first Trump administration’s economic policy because of its high spending.^[58] He initially opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, feeling it was too generous to larger corporations and did too little for small businesses,^[58] and he objected to how the bill would affect companies using a pass-through model.^[70] He was successful in getting a 20 percent deduction in taxation for pass-through businesses passed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.^[71] When accused of benefiting from his tax breaks, he said it was because they benefited everyone.^[67]

As chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Johnson launched investigations into several people associated with the Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.^[72] In his investigation of Hunter Biden, Johnson probed Hunter Biden’s involvement with Ukraine and the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop but did not present evidence of wrongdoing.^[72] He also accused the FBI of covering up information about the laptop.^[73] Johnson pressed the issue even after many in his party had abandoned it—though he had some Republican support, critics from both parties accused him of using the issue to spread Russian disinformation and gain support for Trump’s reelection.^[74].^[75]

Johnson used his position on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to prevent the passage of cyber-security regulation, saying it gave the government too much control over businesses.^[69] Johnson’s approval rating in Wisconsin began falling in 2019.^[76]

Johnson criticized Senate Republicans for prioritizing their political careers over enacting conservative policy and pushed them to take stronger positions, especially on repealing the Affordable Care Act. Republicans negotiated with Johnson to gain his support for a more limited rollback of the policy, including an argument between Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor. Johnson eventually agreed, but the bill was unsuccessful^[58]

After the 2018 Wisconsin elections, Johnson was the only Republican holding statewide office in Wisconsin and came to be seen as a leader of the state’s Republican Party. He attributed that year’s Republican defeats to a lack of grassroots organization or work with local political groups.^[77]

In January 2018, Johnson said an informant had told him that the FBI and Department of Justice had conspired against Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election.^[78] Johnson agreed that the Russian government likely interfered in the election,^[79] but he opened investigations into the officials involved in the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign,^[72] and he felt the special counsel investigation should have been handled by Congress.^[79] Johnson said that Robert Mueller, who headed the special counsel, should not have been involved because he was a former director of the FBI.^[78] Johnson said members of the FBI had formed a “secret society” that held secret meetings, referencing the use of the term in text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Along with several other Congressional Republicans, he called for a special counsel to investigate the FBI.^[78]

Johnson joined other Republicans on a trip to Russia in 2018, but they were denied visas in 2019.^[73]

Johnson was among the most prominent targets of ethics probes by the Democratic Party.^[38] He was accused of abusing flights to Florida and of inappropriately giving his chief of staff $280,000. The flights complaint was dismissed, and Johnson justified the payment as a personal gift for the recipient’s cancer treatment.^[76]

In March 2021, Johnson sought to delay passage of the American Rescue Plan Act.^[80][81][82] Breaking from Senate norms, he forced a 10-hour reading of the bill on the grounds that the Senate did not have enough time to read it.^[83] The same year, he voted against funding highways and transit programs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.^[2]

In 2021, Johnson called the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd a distraction from immigration issues.^[84]

The FBI contacted Johnson in August 2020 to warn him that the Russian government may use him to spread disinformation. Johnson said they could not provide any details and accused them of organizing the briefing so it could be leaked to make him look bad.^[73]

Johnson voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and voted against the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson.^[85][52][2] In 2022, he blocked a Biden administration nominee, William Pocan, from serving as a federal district court judge in Wisconsin. In 2021, Johnson and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin had jointly recommended Pocan. In explaining his apparent reversal, Johnson referenced the Mayfair Mall shooting in Wauwatosa, in which Pocan was not involved.^[86]

In 2019, Trump was impeached over allegations that he had frozen aid to Ukraine to pressure the Ukrainian government to announce investigations into whether Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 presidential election and whether Joe Biden had interfered in an investigation involving his son, although the claims had already been found to be false.^[87] Johnson called the impeachment an attempt to sabotage the Trump administration, singling out Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman for testifying against Trump,^[88] and co-sponsored a resolution to condemn the impeachment inquiry.^[87]

Johnson was heavily involved with Ukraine–United States relations due to his positions as vice chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and chair of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security.^[87] He had been involved in discussions of aid to Ukraine and had tried to dissuade Trump from freezing it.^[88] Johnson reported that he “winced” when he learned from ambassador Gordon Sondland that the freeze was tied to the request for investigations, but he accepted Trump’s denial.^[89][87] Johnson had also spoken to former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko, who said the Ukrainian government had cooperated in investigating Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort as a means to influence the 2016 presidential election.^[88] Johnson endorsed the prospect of investigations into Biden’s activity in Ukraine and China so long as it was not done by pressuring a foreign government.^[87]

Johnson chose not to recuse himself from the impeachment hearing despite his close involvement, saying his recusal would prevent Wisconsin’s citizens from having an equal say in the result. He offered to testify, which raised questions about the protocol of a senator providing testimony and then voting based on that testimony.^[89] He provided a statement to House Republicans detailing his involvement.^[88] Johnson ultimately voted against having witnesses testify at all.^[90]

Johnson voted to acquit Trump because the impeachment resolution did not accuse him of a crime. He dismissed the United States Government Accountability Office‘s decision that Trump broke the law as a standard dispute between the executive and legislative branches of government.^[90]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson disagreed with the accepted medical understanding of COVID-19 and its treatment.^[7][91][92] He expressed support for the COVID-19 vaccine but said its importance was overstated.^[93][92] He spread false claims about potential dangers of the vaccine, suggesting without evidence that it could kill people who were previously infected. He cited user-submitted reports of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to say thousands of people had been killed by the COVID-19 vaccine despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finding evidence that only three deaths might have been caused by the vaccine out of 245 million doses; Johnson’s communications advisor later walked back the claim.^[91] Johnson disagreed with the medical community’s understanding that herd immunity is the most effective way to reduce spread, saying it did not matter whether one’s neighbor was vaccinated and that the young and people previously infected did not need vaccination.^[94] He opposed a provision in the 2022 defense bill that mandated the discharge of servicemen if they did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.^[92]

Johnson accused the media of hiding alternative treatments to COVID-19 such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, which were found to be ineffective. He brought several witnesses before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to testify against the medical consensus, including Jane Orient, who disputed the vaccine’s efficacy, and Ramin Oskoui, who falsely said that face masks, quarantining, and social distancing are ineffective in reducing spread of the virus.^[93] YouTube suspended Johnson from posting videos on the platform for seven days for touting unproven treatments for COVID-19.^[95]

Johnson was critical of preventative measures like lockdowns and facemasks.^[92] While saying that deaths from COVID-19 are tragic, he argued that very few people infected with the virus die and that economic shutdowns do not prevent tens of thousands of deaths from causes like traffic accidents and the flu. He encouraged caution in imposing limitations that could affect essential functions while acknowledging that distancing measures were important in flattening the curve.^[96] He opposed the use of vaccine passports to document vaccination.^[94]

Johnson opposed spending increases during the pandemic.^[97] He opposed the Paycheck Protection Program but voted for the CARES Act stimulus program.^[58] When the Senate considered a Biden-backed stimulus bill—the third since the pandemic began—Johnson invoked a procedural stalling tactic requiring the bill to be read in its entirety in the Senate chamber, which remained mostly empty during the reading.^[98] In 2021, Johnson opposed extending the pandemic’s higher unemployment benefits out of concern it would create a perverse incentive that would keep people from working.^[98] In his next term, he supported tax cuts that he said returned to “a reasonable pre-pandemic level of spending”, warning that the pandemic had caused increased spending and debt to become a new normal.^[97]

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, Johnson declined to say he would recognize the results as legitimate and said the supporters of whoever lost would reject the results. He also said that Democrats would riot if Biden lost, but Republicans would not riot if Trump lost. He accused the Democratic Party of misconduct for implementing more lenient policies for postal voting and drop-off voting.^[99]

Johnson planned on objecting to the electoral results, but he voted to affirm them following the January 6 United States Capitol attack.^[100] Despite this, he continued spreading false claims that there was widespread election fraud and sought investigation into the allegations.^[101] He said there was “voter fraud that the mainstream media and, unfortunately, many officials just simply ignore” and said Democrats had “gamed the system” in Wisconsin”.^[99] He engaged in a heated argument with Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Gary Peters during a committee hearing on the matter.^[101] In private, Johnson confirmed that he knew Joe Biden had won legitimately,^[7] and he eventually recognized Biden’s victory publicly.^[101] He walked back his claims of voter fraud, saying it was not widespread enough to invalidate Biden’s victory.^[72][102] Of his investigations, he said his intention was to investigate irregularities and not to overturn the election.^[7][101]

Andrew Hitt, the chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin in 2021, testified to Congress that Johnson had suggested submitting electoral votes for Trump despite Biden’s victory in Wisconsin.^[103] Johnson defended his involvement as being limited to only a few second where he introduced his staff to one of Trump’s lawyers.^[100]

After the attack on the Capitol, Johnson argued it was not a significant threat to the Senate’s safety and claimed without evidence that it was a false flag attack.^[104] He also accused the FBI of knowing about the attack before it occurred.^[105] Although police radio confirmed that people were armed, Johnson argued that it was not an “armed insurrection” because no weapons were seized.^[100] He said he would have been be more afraid if Black Lives Matter or Antifa had been at the Capitol, saying he knew Trump supporters and they never “would have done what the rioters did”; this prompted accusations of racism.^[106] In May 2021, Johnson voted against creating the January 6 commission.^[107]

Johnson opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump that accused him of causing the attack, saying it would merely “inflame the situation”.^[108] He voted for a measure declaring that Trump’s impeachment over his role in inciting the storming of the Capitol was unconstitutional,^[109] and he later voted to acquit Trump.^[110]

The House Select Committee on the January 6, 2021, Capitol Attack revealed that Johnson’s aide Sean Riley texted Chris Hodgson, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, to request that Johnson personally give Pence an envelope containing alternate electors for Michigan and Wisconsin, which were later determined to be fraudulent. Hodgson refused to do so.^[111] In March 2022, Johnson’s campaign hired Pam Travis as a full-time aide, although she had signed a statement as one of Wisconsin’s ten “fake electors” who challenged the legitimacy of the state’s delegation to the Electoral College.^[112] While walking outside the Capitol and pretending to be on the phone, Johnson said he was unaware of the envelope’s contents.^[113]

In 2023, the FBI collected phone records of Johnson and eight other Republicans documenting the times and subjects of their calls on January 4–7, 2021, to investigate their involvement in the plot to submit fake electors and overturn Biden’s victory. Johnson decried this as inappropriate surveillance by the Biden administration.^[103]

Johnson had pledged to serve only two terms, but in 2022 announced his candidacy for a third term, saying there were calls for him to run for reelection and that he needed to stay in the Senate because “America is in peril”.^[92] He had been considered a possible candidate for Governor of Wisconsin.^[77] Johnson won the Republican primary with 84% percent of the vote to David Schroeder’s 16%.^[2] Johnson was the only Republican incumbent Senate nominee in 2022 who was competing in a state that Trump lost in the 2020 presidential election.^[2][84]

The Democratic nominee was Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin Mandela Barnes, a member of the Democratic Party’s progressive faction. Johnson called Barnes as too extreme and presented himself as more moderate.^[114] The Barnes campaign presented Johnson as a Washington insider.^[76] It also criticized Johnson for using funds to fly to Florida and for supporting tax cuts he personally benefited from.^[114]

Johnson focused more on cultural issues in his 2022 campaign, especially by criticizing anti-white racism and cancel culture.^[84] He made crime a major issue and took a tough on crime stance. Barnes accused Johnson of taking advantage of fears about crime without helping communities in a way that would diminish crime.^[11] The campaign had a radio spot produced that began, “The latest mass murder in America didn’t involve guns”, referencing the accidental deaths of 53 immigrants in Texas during a smuggling operation; the campaign hastened to pull it before it aired as the broadcasts would have followed the Highland Park parade shooting too closely.^[115]

Johnson debated Barnes in October 2022; when each was asked to say something favorable about his opponent, Barnes praised Johnson as a “family man”, while Johnson said Barnes had a “good upbringing” and used that to question why Barnes had “turned against America”.^[68][116]

Johnson’s campaign used the election of Raphael Warnock, another black senatorial candidate decried as too progressive, as the example to avoid.^[76]

Johnson was reelected with 50% of the vote to Barnes’s 49%, a much smaller margin than expected based on polling. No other Republican won a statewide race in Wisconsin in 2022.^[117]

During the Gaza war, Johnson argued Israel should be given administrative authority over the Gaza Strip so it can enforce peace. He opposed aid to Palestine out of fear it would be seized by Hamas and said Palestinian refugees should go to other Arab nations if they did not want to be under Israeli jurisdiction. He opposed a ceasefire out of concern it would let Hamas regroup.^[118]

As of 2024, Johnson had a 38% approval rating in Wisconsin.^[1]

Johnson was one of 18 senators who voted against a third budget extension to prevent a government shutdown in January 2024 because he wanted to avoid indefinite extensions without the passage of a full budget.^[119]

Leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Johnson was unwilling to say he would accept the result, saying he wanted to but would “have to see exactly what happens”.^[1]

Johnson made anti-corruption a major priority after Trump won in 2024, alleging that federal agencies intended to sabotage Trump and were under the control of businesses.^[120]

During his third term, Johnson used his position as chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to open investigations based on 9/11 conspiracy theories.^[121]

Johnson was skeptical of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because it did not offset its tax cuts by reducing spending.^[122] He described the $1.5 trillion spending cuts over ten years as nothing more than “a rounding error” and called for a $6 trillion cut to return spending to where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.^[123] He voted for it after Trump assured him that spending would be reduced.^[122]

Johnson was one of the strongest supporters of the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He expressed interested in working with Kennedy on reevaluating the use of vaccines and investigating processed food.^[120]

In 2025, Johnson said he did not want to run for reelection in 2028 but had yet to decide.^[124]

Johnson supported the raids led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s second administration.^[125][126] He accused Democrats of encouraging people to interfere with ICE operations^[126] and of “neutering our ability to enforce any immigration laws” when they demanded that ICE get judicial warrants before entering people’s homes.^[127] Johnson argued that killings during immigration operations by ICE should be investigated but that opposition is overstated because most operations are conducted properly,^[125] and that the victims of immigration operations were fewer than the victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. He opposed a reduction in spending on the Department of Homeland Security because he saw any cuts as a continuation of the defund the police movement.^[126]

• Special Committee on Aging
• Committee on Foreign Relations
  • Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation (ranking member)
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia
  • Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security
  • Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Johnson has a conservative Senate voting record. According to the NOMINATE scale, he was the fifth-most conservative senator in his first term.^[31] He is among President Trump’s closest Congressional allies.^[1][76][72] He considers both Trump and himself to be “change agent[s]”.^[49] He has cited Ayn Rand‘s libertarian novel Atlas Shrugged as a major influence on his ideology.^[4] His fellow senator from Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin, is a Democrat who diverges significantly from Johnson in ideology, where senators from the same state are typically more closely aligned.^[7]

Johnson has acknowledged that the Tea Party movement was a major factor in his political rise but said he did not consider himself part of it and has not joined any Tea Party organizations.^[4] He has described himself as “more Tea Party than Republican”.^[97]

Johnson is known for inviting controversy and making statements that attract media attention.^[7][76][67] He has promoted conspiracy theories on a variety of issues,^[7][67] which he says is a means to raise uncomfortable questions, allow people to consider alternative ideas, and hold the media accountable.^[7] He argues that “conspiracy theorist” is a label used to silence people who “want to expose the truth”.^[128] His supporters have praised him for taking a direct, blunt approach to politics^[7][129] and support him as an anti-establishment politician.^[7] Critics see him as taking advantage of conspiracy theories to retain the support of Trump’s voters.^[7] As his tenure in the Senate grew longer, his opponents began portraying him as an out-of-touch Washington insider instead of an anti-establishment candidate, which Johnson called “lies and distortions”.^[76]

Johnson opposes liberal criminal justice policies that he argues increase crime, including the abolition of cash bail, restrictions on police chases, and dropping charges for low-level offenders. He has said Wisconsin’s criminal justice system has a “revolving door policy” in which criminals are released shortly after arrest and then commit further crimes.^[11]

Johnson believes that single-parent households and the lack of father figures is responsible for crime. He has also expressed concern about the Ferguson effect, which holds that police have become more hesitant to stop crime because it puts them under increased scrutiny. He is critical of the defund the police movement, which he called “dispiriting”.^[11]

Johnson aligned with the Catholic Church in opposing Wisconsin’s 2010 Child Victims Act because it made it easier to sue organizations associated with sexual abusers, which Johnson said would penalize innocent parties and disincentivize organizations from reporting abuse.^[130]

Johnson has accused the FBI of corruption and alleges it has made attempts to sabotage and discredit him.^[68][73] Through his position on the Committee of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, he opened investigations into multiple FBI officials.^[72]

Opposition to government spending and support for a balanced budget are central to Johnson’s political platform.^[97][39] He believes a reduction in spending is the best way to reduce the deficit and objects to paying debts by increasing taxes.^[97] He sees high taxes as “punishing success”,^[97] and he sees deregulation as a path to economic growth.^[49] To decide where to reduce spending, Johnson has proposed auditing each budget item individually to cut funds that only go to what he called “grifters who are sucking down the waste, fraud and abuse”.^[97] Defending cuts in spending, Johnson said Congress cannot “defeat the deep state by funding it”.^[123] He supports infrastructure spending but has expressed reservations about funding it with deficit spending.^[131]

Johnson is critical of the Social Security program, referring to it as a Ponzi scheme. He has called for partial privatization,^[132] tying it to assets other than government bonds,^[133] and making it subject to regular renewal by Congress.^[68] He argues that programs like Social Security and Medicare are threatened by the deficit and he is trying to save them by reducing spending.^[100]

During his first Senate campaign, Johnson described free trade favorably as “creative destruction” and said that offshoring jobs would eventually create new ones in the U.S.^[18] He has sought the creation of trade deals that provide access to foreign markets, citing their importance in Wisconsin’s agriculture and manufacturing industries. Describing trade at the time, he said that “the last thing we want to do is engage in trade wars”.^[131] He voted to grant the president Trade Promotion Authority in 2015 and to establish the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement in 2020.^[43][52] He did not take a position on whether the United States should enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement while it was being negotiated in 2016.^[131]

Johnson opposes tariffs, which he considers “taxes on American consumers”.^[79] He opposes Trump’s use of tariffs and has supported restrictions on the president’s ability to implement them,^[101] though he accepts the use of tariffs as leverage against other countries and agreed to a tariff on Mexico in 2019 on the condition that it is used to negotiate the construction of the Mexico–United States border wall.^[79]

In 2016, Johnson said he would support a small increase to the national minimum wage if it is tied to inflation,^[49] and in 2021 he expressed support for “increasing the minimum wage to some extent”.^[134] In 2022, he said it was better for the marketplace to decide wages than to have a government-mandated minimum wage.^[134] Johnson is against requiring companies to provide paid family leave, arguing that they would offset the costs by halting increases in wages and benefits.^[133]

Johnson has proposed eliminating government shutdowns by allowing the government to continue operating on the previous budget if a new budget is not passed.^[126] He is against creating new programs to make higher education affordable, saying in 2016 that “we already have 38 different programs that lower payments”.^[133]

Johnson rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. In his 2010 Senate campaign, he called the understanding that climate change is man-made “lunacy” and said it is “not proven by any stretch of the imagination”. He proposed sunspots and “the geologic eons of time” as alternative explanations.^[29] In dismissing the effects of climate change, Johnson falsely claimed that Greenland was green when it was discovered and had become white and snow-clad over time as a result of cooling temperatures.^[106] He also disagreed that greenhouse gasses are harmful, saying that they feed trees.^[29] Johnson has disputed that he is a climate change denier.^[7]

Johnson has supported the oil industry and advocated for increased drilling. He made a statement that suggested support for drilling in the Great Lakes during his 2010 campaign, but he later said that was a misinterpretation of what he said and that he did not support drilling in the Great Lakes.^[27] He co-sponsored the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would block the EPA from imposing new rules on carbon emissions.^[135]

While campaigning in 2022, Johnson said that gas prices were being raised intentionally by Democrats who wanted to force people to use electric vehicles.^[100]

Johnson rejects global governance and has criticized the United Nations as having corrupt members.^[44]

In the late 2010s, Johnson was a major advocate of military aid for Ukraine.^[89][87] He attended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s 2019 inauguration and considered Zelenskyy an ally against Russia.^[88] He opposed further aid after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, saying that Russia would inevitably win and that further support would be a waste of funds.^[136] He said support should be delivered to Ukraine only with a plan to negotiate a settlement with Russia, and joined other Republicans in tying his support to concessions on greater border security between the U.S. and Mexico.^[119]

Johnson said he believes Russia to be “an adversary” but that dialogue must remain open because “Russia is not going away”.^[73] Johnson opposed using sanctions against Russia as a response to the country’s interference in the 2016 elections.^[68] He voted against a bill to condemn Trump’s handling of sanctions against Russia.^[52]

Johnson accused the Obama and Biden administrations of making the Middle East more dangerous by taking insufficient measures against Iran,^[119] and he accused Obama of taking too weak of a stance against ISIS.^[41] Johnson advocated total destruction of the Islamic State out of concern that it would cause terrorism in the United States, describing its leaders as “barbarians”. He opposed increasing the American military presence beyond what was already in Iraq and instead proposed a US-led coalition of NATO and Arab states.^[137]

Johnson voted against ending American military involvement in Yemen in 2018.^[85] He supported launching strikes against the Houthis in Yemen in response to their attacks on ships during the Red Sea crisis that began in 2023.^[119] He believes wealthy Arab nations should pay the United States for the military assistance it provides.^[44]

Johnson has advocated for increased action to prevent international violence against women.^[44]

While Johnson dismissed the idea that the 2016 presidential election would be rigged,^[49] he was a major proponent of such claims for the 2020 election^[99] and suggested he might not accept the results of the 2024 election.^[1] He supports requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote,^[125] and he opposes what he argues is excessive use of mail-in voting, saying it reduces confidence in election results.^[99] He also opposes the nationalization of federal elections that would take election management away from state governments.^[125] Johnson voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.^[2]

Johnson is one of the Senate Republicans who favored the “nuclear option” of ending the Senate’s filibuster “to speed up consideration of President Trump’s nominees” because changing the Senate’s rules to a simple majority vote would “ensure a quicker pace on Trump’s court picks”.^[138] Johnson opposed abolishing the filibuster while Republicans held the Senate in 2022 and said those in favor of abolishing it wanted “absolute power”. He changed his position on the filibuster during a government shutdown in 2025 after Trump said it should be abolished.^[139]

Johnson generally opposes gun control measures as infringements of rights granted by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and argues that gun control measures do not necessarily reduce violent crime.^[140] He supports the right to concealed carry,^[29] and has said increased gun ownership would allow defensive gun use that could deter violent crime.^[141] He has called mandatory gun buyback programs “compensated confiscation” and has emphasized the importance of due process in implementing red flag laws.^[140] He opposes expanded background checks on gun purchases and worked to prevent a background check bill from passing in 2013.^[39] He also opposes high-capacity magazine bans.^[141] In response to school shootings, Johnson proposed a school security law.^[142] Specifically responding to the Uvalde school shooting, Johnson said it was caused by a failure to teach values in schools, a remark Governor Tony Evers called “breathtaking”.^[143] He initially said he was open to firearms licensing during his 2010 Senate campaign, but later said he had been misunderstood.^[29] In April 2013, Johnson was one of 12 Republican senators to sign a letter threatening to filibuster any newly introduced gun control legislation.^[144]

Johnson’s early political career focused heavily on opposition to the Affordable Care Act, which he cited as his reason for entering politics.^[58] He supported the Republican strategy of “repeal and replace”,^[29] even after other Republicans in the Senate considered a partial repeal.^[58] He has also criticized the subsequent Medicaid expansions, which he said allowed “legalized fraud” in the benefits it provided for unemployed able-bodied adults.^[97][122] In 2022, Johnson reiterated his position and said Republicans should repeal the Affordable Care Act if they took control after the 2024 elections.^[145]

Johnson supports protections for people with preexisting conditions and has presented his daughter’s congenital heart defect as an example.^[77] He expressed willingness to keep the provision of the Affordable Care Act that protects people with preexisting conditions. He proposed reforming the law so people with preexisting conditions could be protected through high-risk pools.^[131] He alleged that the ACA caused higher insurance premiums for people with preexisting conditions.^[77]

Johnson has indicated support for the disproven claim that there is a link between vaccines and autism. He believes sanitation is the main cause of disease eradication, suggesting vaccines only play a supplementary role, and he supports repealing vaccine requirements for children attending school.^[146] He has endorsed the false claim that the bleaching agent chlorine dioxide can be used as a treatment for several conditions.^[147] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson promoted skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccine and supported alternative treatments that were found to be ineffective.^[93] He criticized lockdowns as an overreaction to the pandemic.^[96]

Johnson has accused the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration of being nontransparent and obscuring facts from Congress.^[120]

Johnson sponsored a federal right-to-try law allowing patients with severe illness to try experimental treatments.^[93]

In 2011, Johnson co-sponsored a federal bill that would grant all fetuses the same rights and protections as people, with no exceptions for rape or incest.^[148] From 2013 to 2021, he supported bills that banned abortion after 20 weeks of conception except in cases of incest, rape, or when the mother’s life is in danger.^[148] In 2021, Johnson also supported a request for the Supreme Court to uphold a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, with exceptions for “severe fetal abnormality” or medical emergency but none for rape and incest.^[148] Johnson has said an abortion ban after 12 weeks is a “reasonable position that most Americans agree with”, comparing it to similar bans in European countries.^[149] He supports allowing abortions in the case of rape, incest, or risk to the mother’s life, and supports the promotion of contraceptives.^[1]

Johnson opposes funding research that uses embryonic stem cells. He has said he disagrees with it morally and that eliminating funding for the research would help balance the federal budget.^[150] He supported Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, and the subsequent legalization of abortion bans.^[100] Johnson said he did not see that decision “as a huge threat to women’s health” and suggested that those who did not like it could move out of Wisconsin.^[151] Johnson warned Republicans that infighting on specific abortion cutoffs would let Democrats win on the issue and result in looser abortion restrictions.^[149]

Johnson has proposed holding a referendum in Wisconsin to determine when voters believe a fetus should be protected.^[149] Governor Tony Evers convened a special session of the Wisconsin State Legislature to establish citizen ballot initiatives, but Johnson accused him of doing this to politicize the situation.^[100]

Johnson voted against the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.^[152]

Johnson supported Trump’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which he said was unconstitutional and “created incentives for children from Central America to take great risks to enter America illegally.” Trump’s decision made eligible for deportation, after a six-month waiting period, the approximately 800,000 unauthorized immigrants who entered the country as minors and had temporary permission to stay in the country.^[153]

Johnson supports a safe third country agreement with Mexico so people seeking asylum stop there instead of continuing to the United States.^[79]

Johnson has called on state and local governments to arrest illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes and deliver them to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He is critical of sanctuary cities that give protections to illegal immigrants.^[127]

Johnson supported immigration raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the second Trump administration.^[125][126]

Johnson has promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, a white supremacist belief that there are efforts to replace white populations with nonwhite populations.^[84]

Johnson expressed support for the Patriot Act while campaigning in 2010. He also supported the Real ID Act, which brought him into conflict with more conservative groups that saw it as government overreach.^[154] He voted to ban mass collection of data by the National Security Agency.^[43]

Johnson objected when President Biden terminated the China Initiative anti-espionage program, which was criticized for racial discrimination, and insinuated without evidence that it was to help Hunter Biden engage in business in China.^[68]

Johnson has expressed belief in 9/11 conspiracy theories and alleged that information about the attack has been covered up.^[121] He endorsed the debunked claim that 7 World Trade Center had been destroyed through a controlled explosion and said the National Institute of Standards and Technology investigation that disproved the claim was corrupt.^[128][155]

In 2015, Johnson voted for an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow all employees in the country to earn paid sick time.^[156]

Johnson has not taken a strong position on same-sex marriage. He sees marriage as being “between one man and one woman” but has also expressed that he does not oppose protections for same-sex couples.^[157] In 2015, he was one of 11 Senate Republicans to vote to allow same-sex spouses to have access to federal Social Security and veterans’ benefits.^[158] In July 2022, he initially expressed support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify same-sex marriage into federal law.^[159] He reversed his stance in September 2022, saying he “would not support it in its current state”,^[160] and voted against the act.^[152][2] Johnson also voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.^[152][2] He opposed the Biden administration’s application of the sex discrimination protections under Title IX to include protection of gender identity, saying that it was taking “a sledgehammer to Title IX”. He supports banning transgender students from competing on sports teams that do not align with their gender at birth.^[161]

Johnson has a “D” rating from NORML for his voting record on cannabis-related matters.^[162]

Johnson is critical of regulations on electronic cigarettes and flavored tobacco because he believes it helps people stop using cigarettes. He sought the assistance of political strategist Mark Block to court users and sellers of electronic cigarettes.^[163]

In 2025, Johnson opposed a 10-year moratorium on artificial intelligence because the issue is too complex and the correct amount of regulation remained unclear.^[97]

Johnson lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.^[169] He has been married to Jane Curler,^[2] whom he met while attending Edina High School,^[3] since 1977. They have three children. As of 2024, they have four grandchildren.^[1] He is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod^[170] and has attributed his deeply held religious beliefs to his parents.^[3] He engages in philanthropy, including donations to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Catholic schools, and individuals in need.^[3]

• Brattebo, Douglas M. (2018). “Wisconsin Senate Race: Stunning Upset in the Badger State”. In Foreman, Sean D.; Godwin, Marcia L. (eds.). The Roads to Congress 2016: American Elections in a Divided Landscape (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 373–388. ISBN 978-3-319-58094-4.
• Canon, David T. (2012). “Feingold vs. Johnson in Wisconsin’s Senate Race: The Maverick Icon Meets His Match”. In Adkins, Randall E.; Dulio, David A. (eds.). Cases in Congressional Campaigns: Riding the Wave (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 201–218. ISBN 978-0-415-89516-3.
• Cohen, Richard E.; Barnes, James A. (2015). The Almanac of American Politics 2016. Columbia Books & Information Services. ISBN 978-1-938518-30-0.
• Cohen, Richard; Barnes, James A. (2017). The Almanac of American Politics 2018. Columbia Books & Information Services. ISBN 978-1-938939-58-7.
• Cohen, Richard; Cook, Charlie (2019). The Almanac of American Politics 2020. Columbia Books & Information Services. ISBN 978-1-938939-88-4.
• Cohen, Richard; Cook, Charlie (2021). The Almanac of American Politics 2022. Columbia Books & Information Services. ISBN 978-1-952374-09-8.
• Cohen, Richard (2023). The Almanac of American Politics 2024. Columbia Books & Information Services. ISBN 978-1-952374-18-0.
• Davidson, Roger H.; Oleszek, Walter J.; Lee, Frances E. (2012). Congress and Its Members (13th ed.). SAGE. ISBN 978-1-60871-642-5.
• Peterson, Geoffrey (2012). “Ron Johnson: The Accidental Tea Partier”. In Bullock, Charles S. (ed.). Key States, High Stakes: Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and the 2010 Elections. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 91–100. ISBN 978-1-4422-1095-0.
• Sherman, Jake; Palmer, Anna (2019). The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump’s America. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-525-57474-3.

• Senator Ron Johnson official U.S. Senate website
• Ron Johnson for Senate
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Bemis business website
• Ron Johnson at Ballotpedia
• Related U.S. Senate website