Bob Kasten
Robert Walter Kasten Jr. is an American Republican politician from the state of Wisconsin who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from 1975 to 1979 and two terms as a United States Senator from 1981 to 1993.
Background
Kasten was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Country Day School before graduating in 1960 from The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1964 from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and received his M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1966. He served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard from 1966 to 1972.Elected office
Kasten was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1972.U.S. Congress
In 1974, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives after defeating incumbent Glenn R. Davis in a Republican primary election. He was reelected in 1976. He ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1978, but lost the Republican nomination to Lee S. Dreyfus, who went on to win the general election.U.S. Senate
Kasten ran for the United States Senate in 1980 [United States Senate election in Wisconsin|1980] and narrowly defeated Democrat incumbent Gaylord Nelson. The victory was propelled in part by the popularity of Ronald Reagan at the top of the Republican ticket. In the Senate, Kasten was an outspoken conservative. He was the first Republican to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate since Alexander Wiley left office in 1963.In 1985, Kasten was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a District of Columbia police officer observed him running a red light and driving on the wrong side of the road. The DUI charges were later dropped.
In 1986 [United States Senate election in Wisconsin|1986], Kasten narrowly defeated Democrat Ed Garvey to win a second term after a very bitter campaign, one that was characterized by personal attacks and is remembered as one of the nastiest elections in Wisconsin history. Kasten was defeated by Democratic state Senator Russ Feingold in 1992.
Kasten voted in favor of the Passage of [Martin Luther King Jr. Day|bill] establishing Martin [Luther King Jr. Day] as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987. Kasten voted in favor of the nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After the Senate
Since 1993, he has been President of Kasten & Company, a consulting firm. In July 2007, Kasten joined the presidential campaign of Republican Rudy Giuliani as a foreign policy adviser. He chaired Giuliani's Wisconsin campaign, along with former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former State Senator Cathy Stepp.After Giuliani dropped out, Kasten endorsed his close friend and former Senate colleague John McCain. In April 2016, Kasten endorsed Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for president in 2016, becoming part of Trump's foreign policy advisory team.