Ron Johnson
Ronald Harold Johnson 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, 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.
Early life and education
Ronald Harold Johnson was born on April 8, 1955, in Mankato, Minnesota. He was the son of Jeanette Elizabeth and Dale Robert Johnson. His father was of Norwegian descent and his mother of German ancestry. His mother was a film processor and his father was a treasurer, both corporately and for the church. In his youth, Johnson worked in the shipping department of a school yearbook company, as a newspaper delivery boy, a caddie, a hay baler on his uncle's farm, a dishwasher, and the night manager of a restaurant. He attended Edina High School but skipped his senior year and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in business and accounting. Johnson began working as an accountant while studying for a Master of Business Administration, but he ended his studies in 1979 to enter business.Business career
Johnson moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1979 so he could help establish the PACUR plastic company with his brother-in-law. He worked with the company as a machine operator and an accountant. He lived five minutes away from work and went home each day for lunch. The company later expanded into specialty plastics used in medical device packaging, which involved hiring salespeople and exporting products to other countries. 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.In October 2009, Johnson was invited by Michelle Litjens to speak at a rally associated with the Tea Party movement in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was asked to speak about his experiences as a businessman regarding government regulation, but he 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. Afterward, he reached out to Litjens to help him launch a campaign for the United States Senate. Johnson's wife took convincing, having said "absolutely not" when he first raised the idea.
U.S. Senate
2010 Senate election
2010 Republican primary election
Johnson announced his candidacy in the 2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin a week before the May 15 Republican convention. It was Johnson's first run for elected office. 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". Johnson first became known statewide with the assistance of conservative political commentator Charlie Sykes—Sykes went on to oppose Johnson years later as the latter's political career progressed. The Republican candidates' late start meant that the nominee's campaign would need to be largely self-funded, which gave Johnson an advantage with his background as a wealthy business executive.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. Johnson also gained the support of Senator Jim DeMint, who held influence over the support received by Republican candidates. Johnson subsequently won the Republican primary in September with 85 percent of the vote, defeating Dave Westlake and Stephen Finn, who received 10 percent and 5 percent of the vote, respectively. Johnson's other opponent, Terrence Wall, dropped out of the race after accusing Johnson of bribing the convention to select him.
Wisconsin had long been a competitive state where both Democratic and Republican candidates were viable. Johnson's opponent in the general election, Russ Feingold, was the incumbent and had won his previous race by 11 points. Prior to Johnson's candidacy, Feingold was expected to win against his eventual opponent. Feingold's polling advantage dissipated in July. Johnson took a massive lead in the polls in September, but his lead shrank in the days leading up to the election. 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 referred to as "murder sessions". Both candidates were seen as performing well across the three debates.
2010 general election
Citizens United v. FEC affirmed the right of organizations to spend on political campaigns in 2010, and nearly all of the race's outside funds were in support of Johnson rather than Feingold. Johnson's campaign spent approximately $15 million, including $8.7 million of Johnson's own money. 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 dollar amount and that it was unrelated to the contributions he had made to his campaign.Johnson ran as a political outsider and a small business owner while criticizing Feingold as a Washington insider. His messaging emphasized fiscal responsibility, including job creation and reduction of the national debt. 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 their strict reading of the Constitution, his campaign had their backing and is often identified with their support. He later acknowledged that the Tea Party movement was a major factor in his political rise but said that he did not consider himself to be part of it.
Johnson rarely went into detail on policy plans. 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". He took controversial positions on several issues, and the campaign avoided frequent public appearances following 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. 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.
Johnson campaigned against the Recovery Act and the Affordable Care Act that had been passed by the Obama administration. Regarding the Recovery Act, 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 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 stated that nonprofits consider "many possibilities", but that the council "made no application" for stimulus funds.
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 but not enough manufacturers or accountants. He avoided discussing controversial issues in his ads. 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.
Johnson was elected to the United States Senate with 51.9 percent of the vote, defeating Feingold's 47.0 percent. The 2010 elections were favorable to the Republican Party, which saw victories across the nation and especially in Wisconsin. Candidates without previous political experience, such as Johnson, also did particularly well in 2010.
After being elected to the Senate, Johnson said that he sold his liquid assets to avoid a conflict of interest and also promised to place his assets in a blind trust. He retained a stake in PACUR.
First term (2011–2017)
Upon entering the Senate, Johnson was appointed to the Committee on the Budget and Committee on Appropriations. He sought the position of vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference in December 2011, but Roy Blunt was selected with 25 votes while Johnson received 22 votes.Johnson opposed the budget cuts proposed by fellow Republican Paul Ryan in 2011 because he felt that the budget needed to be cut even further, and he stalled a bill authorizing military action in Libya in protest of the budget.
Johnson stepped down from the Committee on Appropriations in 2013 because he objected to the other committee members' permissiveness toward spending and instead joined the Committee on Foreign Relations. He became chair of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and following the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya, he was one of the most prominent critics of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her handling of the situation. He also used the position to facilitate the passage of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Act of 2015 that updated warning system of the same name.
Johnson has become known for his gaffes while in the Senate. Among the gaffes in his first term, he referred to Governor Nikki Haley as an "immigrant" because she was of Indian descent, he commented on the death of Antonin Scalia by posting a photo of an actor depicting Scalia, he accused The Lego Movie of being anti-capitalist and called it "insidious", he said that public school students are "idiot inner-city kids", he compared the choice to reelect him to the choice made by the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, he accused "poor single moms" of taking jobs in day care centers to watch their own children, and he said that history teachers could be replaced by Ken Burns documentaries.