Ron Johnson's tribute to former Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr Recorded November 19, 2015
Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American businessman and politician serving as the seniorUnited 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.
Ronald Harold Johnson[1] was born on April 8, 1955, in Mankato, Minnesota.[2] He was the son of Jeanette Elizabeth (néeThisius) and Dale Robert Johnson. His father was of Norwegian descent and his mother of German ancestry.[3] His mother was a film processor and his father was a treasurer, both corporately and for the church.[1][4] In his youth, Johnson worked in the shipping department of a school yearbook company,[4] as a newspaper delivery boy, a caddie, a hay baler on his uncle's farm, a dishwasher, and the night manager of a restaurant.[5] He attended Edina High School but skipped his senior year[4] 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.[5]
Business career
Johnson moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1979 so he could help establish the PACUR plastic company with his brother-in-law.[5] 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.[4] The company later expanded into specialty plastics used in medical device packaging, which involved hiring salespeople and exporting products to other countries.[6] 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.[7]
In October 2009, Michelle Litjens invited Johnson to speak at an Oshkosh rally associated with the Tea Party movement.[8] 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.[9] Afterward, he reached out to Litjens to help him launch a campaign for the United States Senate.[8] Johnson's wife took convincing, saying "absolutely not" when he first raised the idea.[4]
Johnson announced his candidacy in the 2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin a week before the May 15 Republican convention.[10] It was his first run for elected office.[11] 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".[9][5] Johnson first became known statewide with the assistance of conservative political commentator Charlie Sykes (Sykes opposed Johnson years later when Johnson embraced Donald Trump).[8][12] 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.[13]
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.[10][14] Johnson also gained the support of Senator Jim DeMint, who held influence over the support received by Republican candidates.[15] 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.[13]
Wisconsin had long been a competitive state where both Democratic and Republican candidates were viable.[16] The Democratic nominee in the general election, Russ Feingold, was the incumbent and had won his previous race by 11 points.[17] Before Johnson's candidacy, Feingold was expected to be reelected.[10][18] Feingold's polling advantage dissipated in July.[19] Johnson took a massive lead in the polls in September, but his lead shrank in the days leading up to the election.[20] 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.[21]
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.[22] Johnson's campaign spent approximately $15 million, including $8.7 million of his own money.[20] 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.[23][24]
Johnson ran as a political outsider and small-business owner while criticizing Feingold as a Washington insider.[25][26] His messaging emphasized fiscal responsibility,[27] including job creation and reduction of the national debt.[21] 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.[28][29]
Johnson rarely went into detail on policy plans.[30] 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".[30] 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.[19] 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.[31]
Johnson campaigned against the Recovery Act and the Affordable Care Act passed by the Obama administration.[32] 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.[33]
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.[34] His ads avoided controversial issues.[29] 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.[35]
Johnson was elected to the United States Senate with 51.9% of the vote to Feingold's 47.0%.[36] The 2010 elections were favorable to the Republican Party, which saw victories across the nation and especially in Wisconsin.[37][38] Candidates without previous political experience, such as Johnson, also did particularly well in 2010.[13]
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.[39]
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.[40] 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.[5]
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.[15] 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.[5] 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.[40]
Johnson also used his position on the committee to facilitate the passage of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Act of 2015 that updated warning system of the same name.[5]
Johnson became known for his gaffes.[41] 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.[42]
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;[43] that month, he said he would not self-finance his reelection bid.[44] He ran unopposed in the Republican primary election.[45]
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.[46] In December 2014, the Washington Post rated Johnson the most vulnerable incumbent U.S. senator in the 2016 election cycle.[47]
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.[48] 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.[49] Johnson felt neglected by the Republican Party and deemed its support inadequate.[50]
Johnson made his support for small government a key element of his campaign,[51] and his campaign used a get out the vote approach to gain voters.[46] He avoided tying himself to Trump until Trump's support in Wisconsin became apparent.[52] Johnson reused his 2010 campaign strategy of presenting himself as a businessman and a political outsider while portraying Feingold as a career politician.[53] He also touted his work with the faith-based Joseph Project jobs program.[50] He argued that Feingold was a hypocrite for accepting campaign funds from outside Wisconsin despite advocating campaign finance reform.[54][5]
Johnson hired his brother Dean Johnson, a television executive producer, to assist in his campaign.[50] 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.[56]
Johnson was reelected with 50.2% of the vote to Feingold's 46.8%.[57] He performed well with rural, white, male voters without college degrees.[46] His margin of victory was bigger than Trump's in Wisconsin, having won by larger margins in the Minneapolis suburbs.[50]
Second term (2017–2023)
Johnson was a close ally of the Trump administration in his second term, though he disagreed with the administration on economic issues.[58] He embraced political conspiracy theories that Trump endorsed.[59][2] He has defended his promotion of conspiracy theories as a means to raise uncomfortable questions, allow people to consider alternative ideas, and hold the media accountable.[8]
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[50]
In January 2018, Johnson said an informant had told him that the FBI and Department of Justice had conspired against Trump in the 2016 presidential election; he called it a "secret society" and said there was "corruption at the highest levels of the FBI".[63] Later that day, Johnson said he had based these claims on FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page's text messages, but conceded that he could not fully ascertain the messages' meaning.[64] In February 2018, he suggested that a text message between Strzok and Page raised questions about "the type and extent of President Obama's personal involvement" in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server.[65] But the message in question, which said, "Potus wants to know everything we're doing", referred to the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, not the Clinton email investigation, which had concluded months earlier.[65] In April 2019, Johnson defended Trump's statement that some high-level FBI agents were "scum",[66] and said, "I think there's a proven fact there was definitely corruption at the highest levels of the FBI."[66] In 2021, he confirmed reporting that the FBI warned him in August 2020 that he was a target of Russian disinformation.[67] In 2022, Johnson said the "FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me".[68]
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.[69]
Johnson was among the most prominent targets of ethics probes by the Democratic Party.[39] 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.[62]
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.[71][45][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.[72]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson disagreed with the accepted medical understanding of COVID-19 and its treatment.[8][73][74] He expressed support for the COVID-19 vaccine but said its importance was overstated.[75][74] 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.[73] 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.[76] He opposed a provision in the 2022 defense bill that mandated the discharge of servicemen if they did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.[74]
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.[75]YouTube suspended Johnson from posting videos on the platform for seven days for touting unproven treatments for COVID-19.[77]
Johnson was critical of preventative measures like lockdowns and facemasks.[74] 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.[78] He opposed the use of vaccine passports to document vaccination.[76]
Johnson opposed spending increases during the pandemic.[79] He opposed the Paycheck Protection Program but voted for the CARES Act stimulus program.[50] 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.[79]
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.[80] He had been involved in discussions of aid to Ukraine and had tried to dissuade Trump from freezing it.[81] 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.[82][80] 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.[81] 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.[80]
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.[82] He provided a statement to House Republicans detailing his involvement.[81]
2020 presidential election and January 6 attack
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.[83]
Johnson voted to certify the results in Arizona and in Pennsylvania,[45] but promoted false claims that there was widespread election fraud and sought investigation into the allegations.[84] 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".[83] 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.[84] In private, Johnson confirmed that he knew Joe Biden had won legitimately,[8] and he eventually recognized Biden's victory publicly.[84] He walked back his claims of voter fraud, saying it was not widespread enough to invalidate Biden's victory.[60][85] Of his investigations, he said his intention was to investigate irregularities and not to overturn the election.[8][84]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.[86]
After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Johnson argued it was not a significant threat to the Senate's safety and claimed without evidence that it was a false flag attack.[87] 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.[88] In May 2021, Johnson voted against creating the January 6 commission.[89] Repeating a conspiracy theory, in August 2021 Johnson suggested that the FBI must have had more foreknowledge than had been disclosed about the attack. A spokesperson for Johnson said, "the revelation of the depth of the FBI's involvement in the Governor Whitmer plot raises questions as to whether it had infiltrated January 6 agitator groups as well".[90] In February 2021, Johnson suggested that Nancy Pelosi sought a second impeachment of Trump to "deflect" from "what [she] knew and when [she] knew it".[91][92] He said an impeachment vote would merely "inflame the situation".[93] Johnson voted for a measure declaring that Trump's impeachment over his role in inciting the storming of the Capitol was unconstitutional.[92] He later voted to acquit Trump.[94] Johnson attacked Senator Mitt Romney for voting to allow witnesses in the trial.[60][93] Asked about the confrontation with Romney, Johnson told reporters, "those are private conversations", adding, "That's grotesque you guys are recording". A reporter noted that the press is permitted to witness the proceedings.[93]
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.[95] 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.[96] While walking outside the Capitol and pretending to be on the phone, Johnson said he was unaware of the envelope's contents.[97]
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.[86]
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".[74] He had been considered a possible candidate for Governor of Wisconsin.[69] 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][70]
The Democratic nominee was Lieutenant Governor of WisconsinMandela Barnes, a member of the Democratic Party's progressive faction. Johnson called Barnes as too extreme and presented himself as more moderate.[98] The Barnes campaign presented Johnson as a Washington insider.[62] It also criticized Johnson for using funds to fly to Florida and for supporting tax cuts he personally benefited from.[98]
Johnson focused more on cultural issues in his 2022 campaign, especially by criticizing anti-white racism and cancel culture.[70] 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.[12] 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".[59][99]
Johnson's campaign used the election of Raphael Warnock, another black senatorial candidate decried as too progressive, as the example to avoid.[62]
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.[100]
Third term (2023–present)
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.[101]
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.[102]
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.[103]
Johnson was skeptical of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because it did not offset its tax cuts by reducing spending, but he voted for it after Trump assured him that spending would be reduced.[104]
In 2025, Johnson said he did not want to run for reelection in 2028 but had yet to decide.[105]
Johnson argued that killings during immigration operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be investigated but that opposition is overstated because most operations are conducted properly.[106] He said that the victims of immigration operations were fewer than the victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Johnson accused Democrats of encouraging interference with ICE. He opposed reducing spending on the Department of Homeland Security because he saw it as a continuation of the defund the police movement.[107]
Johnson has a conservative Senate voting record. According to the NOMINATE scale, he was the fifth-most conservative senator in his first term.[32] He is among President Trump's closest Congressional allies.[1][62][60] He 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.[5] He has described himself as "more Tea Party than Republican".[79]
Johnson has cited Ayn Rand's libertarian novel Atlas Shrugged as a major influence on his ideology.[5] His supporters have praised him for taking a direct, blunt approach to politics.[8][108] His critics have compared him to a previous senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, who expressed far-right sentiments.[88]
Crime
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.[12]
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".[12]
Johnson's fiscal policy is defined by opposition to heavy government spending.[79][40] He has rejected the use of tax increases to balance the budget or avoid spending cuts on specific programs, 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". He sees high taxes as "punishing success".[79] Johnson called Social Security a Ponzi scheme in his first Senate campaign and called for partial privatization.[109] He supports making Social Security dependent on regular renewal by Congress.[59] Johnson has proposed eliminating government shutdowns by allowing the government to continue operating on the previous budget if a new budget is not passed.[107]
During his first Senate campaign, Johnson described free trade favorably as "creative destruction" and said that offshoring jobs would eventually create new jobs in the U.S.[19] He said China had a stronger business environment than the U.S.[110] In 2015, he voted to grant the president Trade Promotion Authority.[111] In 2020, he voted for the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.[45] In November 2018, he was one of 12 Republican senators to sign a letter to Trump requesting the agreement be submitted to Congress by the end of the month to allow a vote on it before the end of the year, as they were concerned that "passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult" if it had to be approved by the incoming 116th Congress.[112]
Johnson was involved in the deals to raise the debt ceiling in July 2011 and January 2013.[40] He argued that Congress could not keep raising the debt limit, and needed to prioritize spending.[113] Johnson called for open negotiations over the debt ceiling, saying that the closed-door talks were "outrageous" and "disgusting." He said default should not be a concern because the government had plenty of funding to pay interest on debt, Social Security benefits, and salaries for soldiers.[114] 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.[40] When asked whether he would get rid of home mortgage interest deductions (claiming mortgage interest as a tax-deductible expense), he said he "wouldn't rule it out" as part of an effort to lower taxes and simplify the tax code.[115] Johnson was noted for his use of charts when analyzing or explaining fiscal issues.[40]
Johnson opposed the first Trump administration's economic policy because of its high spending.[50] He also opposed Trump's use of tariffs and supported restriction on the president's power to impose them.[84] Johnson 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,[50] and he objected to how the bill would affect companies using a pass-through model.[117] He negotiated tax reforms for pass-through companies into the bill, which critics said benefited his family's company PACUR.[39]
In March 2021, Johnson sought to delay passage of the American Rescue Plan Act.[118][119][120] 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.[121] The same year, he voted against funding highways and transit programs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021.[2]
In 2021, Johnson expressed support for "increasing the minimum wage to some extent" (the federal minimum wage had been $7.25/hour since 2009).[122] In 2022, he said it was better for the "marketplace" to decide wages than to have a government-mandated minimum wage.[122]
Environment, climate change and energy
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.[30] 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.[88] He also disagreed that greenhouse gasses are harmful, saying that they feed trees.[30] Johnson has disputed that he is a climate change denier.[8]
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.[28] He co-sponsored the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would block the EPA from imposing new rules on carbon emissions.[123]
Elections
Johnson supports requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.[106] He opposes what he argues is excessive use of mail-in voting, saying it reduces confidence in election results.[83] He also opposes the nationalization of federal elections that would take election management away from state governments.[106] Johnson voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.[2]
Foreign policy
In the late 2010s, Johnson was a major advocate of military aid for Ukraine.[82][80] He attended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 2019 inauguration and considered Zelenskyy an ally against Russia.[81] 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.[124] 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.[102]
In 2013, Johnson was a cosponsor of S. 570, a bill that would prohibit the Justice Department from tracking and cataloging the purchases of multiple rifles and shotguns.[128] In April 2013, Johnson was one of 12 Republican senators to sign a letter threatening to filibuster any newly introduced gun control legislation.[129] That month, he joined 45 other senators in defeating the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would have required background checks on all sales of guns, including between individuals.[130] Johnson had received about $1.2 million in contributions from firearms interests since his 2010 Senate campaign.[131] His 2022 campaign had a radio spot produced that began, "The latest mass murder in America didn't involve guns." It equated the recent accidental deaths of 53 immigrants in Texas during President Biden's tenure with mass homicide.[131] Before it aired, the campaign hastened to pull it, as the broadcasts would have followed the July 4, 2022, Highland Park parade shooting too closely. Seven people died and 46 were wounded in the shooting.[131] The alleged shooter then drove directly to Madison, Wisconsin, allegedly intending to continue his rampage at that city's Independence Day parade.[131][132] Days after a Texas 18-year-old killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers on May 24, 2022, Johnson said he opposed passing new firearms laws.[133] Johnson told Fox News correspondent Neil Cavuto that the failure to teach "values" in schools had led to the school massacre, a remark Governor Tony Evers called "breathtaking".[134] Cavuto replied that such shootings had "been going on long before CRT and wokeness".[135]
Health care
Johnson supported the Republican strategy of "repeal and replace" in opposition to the Affordable Care Act.[30] He continued to support total repeal of the ACA when partial repeal was considered,[50] and joined conservative senators like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee to oppose the Senate Republican's lighter alternative to the American Health Care Act of 2017.[136] Johnson has criticized the ACA's Medicaid expansions that benefit unemployed able-bodied adults, calling it "legalized fraud".[79][104]
Johnson did not pursue the ACA as a major issue in his 2016 campaign.[137]
Johnson supports protections for people with preexisting conditions and has presented his daughter's congenital heart defect as an example. He alleged that the ACA caused higher insurance premiums for people with preexisting conditions.[69]
In 2013, Johnson declined to support efforts to tie funding the federal government to defunding the ACA, noting that such efforts were highly unlikely to succeed given Obama's opposition.[138] In 2014, he criticized Congress's ability to continue using pretax employer contributions to help pay for their medical care and filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block ACA exemptions for members of Congress and their staff.[139] The suit was dismissed for lack of standing, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal on appeal.[140][141]
In an August 2017 interview, Johnson said of Senator John McCain's "thumbs-down" vote that killed the Republican bill to repeal the ACA, "He has a brain tumor right now. The vote occurred at 1:30 in the morning. So some of that might have factored in."[142] A McCain spokesman called the statements "bizarre and deeply unfortunate". Johnson later said he was "disappointed I didn't more eloquently express my sympathy for what Senator McCain is going through."[143]
In 2022, Johnson said that Republicans should repeal the ACA if they took control after the 2022 elections.[144]
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.[145] 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.[145] 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.[145] 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.[146] 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.[147] He supported Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, calling it a "victory for life".[148] 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.[149] Johnson warned Republicans that infighting on specific abortion cutoffs would let Democrats win on the issue and result in looser abortion restrictions.[146]
Johnson has proposed holding a referendum in Wisconsin to determine when voters believe a fetus should be protected.[146]
Medicine and vaccines
Johnson has endorsed the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. He has also falsely claimed that vaccinated children have higher rates of chronic illness.[150] Johnson held a congressional hearing on an unpublished study by researchers at Henry Ford Health that supported this claim. A spokesperson for Henry Ford Health said "this report was not published because it did not even come close to meeting the rigorous scientific standards we demand" and "we were not given the opportunity by Congress to weigh in or testify".[151] Johnson supports anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he "could not be happier" about Trump nominating Kennedy for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Johnson defended Kennedy's anti-vaccine activism by falsely saying, "There's never been a placebo-controlled study on childhood vaccines. Not one."[152] Johnson also falsely claimed on Charlie Kirk's show that COVID-19 vaccines were causing athletes to die on the playing field.[153] During a measles outbreak in Wisconsin, he called for the elimination of vaccine requirements for schoolchildren. Johnson said that good hygiene and sanitation were more effective than vaccines at preventing disease.[154]
Johnson has endorsed Pierre Kory's book The War on Chlorine Dioxide: The Medicine that Could End Medicine. Kory is a doctor who lost his medical certification after calling for the use of antiparasitic medication to treat COVID-19. The book advocates use of the pseudoscientific Miracle Mineral Supplement, a brand of the bleach chlorine dioxide, inaccurately claiming it can be used as treatment for autism and numerous diseases and ailments, including cancer. Kory also claims there have been assassination attempts on doctors who promote chlorine dioxide as a medicine. Johnson provided a blurb for the book and has said, "After reading the entire book, yes, I provided and approved that blurb." He and Kory appeared together at a conference for Children's Health Defense, the antivaccine organization Kennedy founded.[155]
Johnson sponsored a federal right-to-try law allowing patients with severe illness to try experimental treatments.[75]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson promoted vaccine skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccine and supported alternative treatments that were found to be ineffective.[75] He criticized lockdowns as an overreaction to the pandemic.[78]
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.[157]
Johnson supported immigration raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the second Trump administration.[106][107]
Johnson has promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, a white supremacist belief that there are efforts to replace white populations with nonwhite populations.[70]
Senate filibuster
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".[158] 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.[159]
Social issues
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.[160]
Johnson has expressed a willingness to explicitly legalize same-sex marriage federally.[1] 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.[161] In July 2022, he initially expressed support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify same-sex marriage into federal law.[162] He reversed his stance in September 2022, saying he "would not support it in its current state",[163] and voted against the act.[156][2] Johnson also voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.[156][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.[164]
Johnson has a "D" rating from NORML for his voting record on cannabis-related matters.[165]
Statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits
In January 2010, before holding elective office, Johnson opposed a Wisconsin bill that would have eliminated the time limit for future child sexual abuse victims to sue while allowing an additional three years for past victims to sue.[166] He testified before the Wisconsin Senate that "punishment for the actual perpetrators should be severe" but questioned whether it would be just for employers of perpetrators to be financially affected by lawsuits.[167] He added that the bill, if enacted, might reduce the reporting of child sexual abuse. At the time of his testimony, Johnson was on the Finance Council of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.[168][166]
In June 2010 he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "I can't think of a penalty that would be too harsh for these guys".[168] In September 2010, he said the legislation would have financially weakened organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and that the punishment for child sexual abuse should be "severe and swift."[166] He also addressed reports about his testimony, saying, "I sought to warn legislators of those consequences in order to correct legislative language so that any bills that passed would punish the perpetrators and those that protect them, not honorable organizations that do so much good for our communities. We must rid our society of people who prey on children."[169]
Technology
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.[79]
National security
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.[170] He voted to ban mass collection of data by the National Security Agency.[111]
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.[59]
In an April 2025 interview with Benny Johnson (no relation), Ron Johnson said the Senate should hold hearings into an alleged U.S. government coverup regarding the September 11 attacks. He suggested that World Trade Center Building 7 had been destroyed by controlled demolition and praised "Calling Out Bravo 7", a film endorsing 9/11 conspiracy theories. He also said the NIST investigation that concluded that World Trade Center Building 7 collapsed as the result of a prolonged fire was "corrupt". Johnson said that former congressman Curt Weldon, who had said a week earlier in an interview with Tucker Carlson that the U.S. government covered up its role in the attacks, should be included in the proposed investigation.[171][172] On the eve of the 24th anniversary of 9/11, Johnson gave the keynote speech at an event for 9/11 conspiracy theorists hosted by Richard Gage, founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Johnson called on the attendees to continue to investigate the "truth" about 9/11.[173][174]
Electoral history
Wisconsin U.S. Senate Republican primary 2010[175]
Johnson lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.[180] He has been married to Jane Curler,[2] whom he met while attending Edina High School,[4] since 1977. They have three children. As of 2024, they have four grandchildren.[1] He is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod[181] and has attributed his deeply held religious beliefs to his parents.[4] He engages in philanthropy, including donations to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Catholic schools, and individuals in need.[4]
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