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.
2016 Senate election
In March 2013, Johnson announced that he would seek reelection in the 2016 United States Senate election in Wisconsin. In November 2014, he was again endorsed by the fiscally conservative Club for Growth; that month, he said he would not self-finance his reelection bid. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary election.Johnson entered a rematch against his 2010 opponent Russ Feingold. Feingold led in polling until the weeks leading up to the election and was widely expected to defeat Johnson. In December 2014, the Washington Post rated Johnson the most vulnerable incumbent U.S. senator in the 2016 election cycle. Johnson felt neglected by the Republican Party, who he felt did not adequately support his campaign.
Johnson made his support for small government a key element of his campaign, and his campaign used a get out the vote approach to gain voters. He avoided tying himself to that year's Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, until the lead up to election day when Trump's support in Wisconsin became more apparent. Johnson reused his 2010 campaign strategy of presenting himself as a businessman and a political outsider while portraying Feinberg as a career politician. He also touted his work with the faith-based Joseph Project jobs program. He argued that Feinberg was a hypocrite for accepting campaign funds from outside of Wisconsin despite advocating campaign finance reform.
[Merrick Garland Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court nomination|The nomination] of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court was ongoing during Johnson's reelection campaign, and Johnson campaigned on his support for confirming a more conservative nominee so the court would vote in favor of the right to bear arms.
Johnson hired his brother Dean Johnson, a television executive producer, to assist in his campaign. The campaign's television ads in 2016 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.
Johnson won reelection with 50.2 percent of the vote against Feingold's 46.8 percent. Johnson performed well with rural, white, male voters without college degrees. His victory was stronger than Trump's victory in Wisconsin, having won by greater margins in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
Second term (2017–2023)
Johnson was a close ally to the Trump administration in his second term, although he disagreed with the administration on economic issues. At this time, he embraced political conspiracy theories that were endorsed by Trump. 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.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, and the officials involved in the the investigation into Trump campaign's links with Russian officials. In his investigation of Hunter Biden, he probed Hunter Biden's involvement with Ukraine and the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop without presenting evidence of wrongdoing. He 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 gain support for Trump's reelection. He also used this position on the committee to prevent the passage of cyber-security regulation, saying it gave the government too much control over businesses. Johnson's approval rating in Wisconsin began falling in 2019.
Johnson criticized his party in the Senate for prioritizing their own political careers over enacting conservative policy and pushed them to take stronger positions, especially regarding the repeal of 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
Johnson was critical of the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing them as an overreaction. He expressed support for the use of facemasks and the COVID-19 vaccine, but he challenged their importance. He endorsed alternative treatments for COVID-19, including the use of ivermectin, which the Food and Drug Administration warned against. He opposed a provision in [National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022|the 2022 United States Senate election in Wisconsin|2022 defense bill] that mandated the discharge of servicemen if they did not take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Johnson was the subject of two ethics complaints in his second term: he was accused of abusing flights to Florida, and he was accused of inappropriately giving his chief of staff $280,000. The flights complaint was dismissed, and Johnson justified the payment as a personal gift for cancer treatment.
In his second term, 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.
First impeachment of Donald Trump
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. Johnson described the impeachment as an attempt to sabotage the Trump administration, singling out lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman for testifying against Trump, and he co-sponsored a resolution to condemn the impeachment inquiry.Johnson was heavily involved with Ukraine–United States relations due to his positions as vice chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security. He had been involved in discussions around aid to Ukraine and had tried to dissuade Trump from freezing it. 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. Johnson had also spoken to former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko, who alleged that the Ukrainian government had cooperated in investigating Trump's 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort as a means to influence the 2016 presidential election. Johnson endorsed the prospect of investigations into Biden's activity in Ukraine as well as China so long as it was not done through pressuring a foreign government.
Johnson chose not to recuse himself from the impeachment hearing despite his close involvement, saying his recusal would prevent the citizens of Wisconsin 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. He provided a statement to Republicans in the House of Representatives detailing the sequence of events regarding his involvement.
2020 presidential election and January 6 attack
Although Johnson voted in favor of certifying the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona and in Pennsylvania, he promoted false claims that there was widespread election fraud and sought investigation into the allegations. He said there was "voter fraud that the mainstream media and, unfortunately, many officials just simply ignore" and charged Democrats as having "gamed the system" in Wisconsin". 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. In private, Johnson confirmed that he was aware Joe Biden had won legitimately, and he eventually recognized Biden's victory publicly. He walked back his claims of voter fraud, saying it was not widespread enough to invalidate Biden's victory. Regarding his investigations, he stated that his intention was to investigate irregularities and not to overturn the election.Following 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. 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. In May 2021, Johnson voted against creating the January 6 commission. Repeating a conspiracy theory, in August 2021, Johnson suggested that the FBI must have had more foreknowledge than has been disclosed about the Capitol 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". In February 2021, Johnson suggested that Nancy Pelosi sought a second impeachment of Trump to "deflect" from "what knew and when knew it". Johnson voted for a measure declaring that Trump's impeachment over his role in inciting the storming of the Capitol was unconstitutional. He later voted to acquit Trump. 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. 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. While walking outside the Capitol and pretending to be on a phone call, Johnson claimed he was not aware of the contents of the envelope.
2022 election
Although Johnson pledged to serve only two terms, he announced his candidacy for a third term in 2022, saying there were calls for him to run for reelection and that he needed to stay in the Senate because "America is in peril". He was challenged in the Republican primary by David Schroeder but won with 84 percent of the vote to Schroeder's 16 percent. Going into the general election, Johnson was the only incumbent Republican candidate for the Senate in 2022 who was competing in a state that Donald Trump had lost in the 2020 presidential election.Johnson's opponent in the general election was Mandela Barnes, the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. Barnes was a member of the Democratic Party's progressive faction, and Johnson challenged Barnes as too extreme while presenting himself as more moderate. The Barnes campaign presented Johnson as a Washington insider following two terms in the Senate. It also criticized Johnson for using funds to fly to Florida and for tax breaks that he personally benefited from. The campaign used the election of Raphael Warnock, another black candidate decried as too progressive, as the example to avoid.
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".
Johnson won reelection with 50 percent of the vote to Barnes's 49 percent, a much closer race than was expected with Johnson's lead in polling. No other Republicans won a statewide race in Wisconsin in 2022.
Third term (2023–present)
Johnson's third term in the Senate began in 2023.As of 2024, Johnson had a 38 percent approval rating in Wisconsin.
Leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Johnson was unwilling to say he would accept the eventual results, saying he wanted to but would "have to see exactly what happens".
Committee assignments
- Special Committee on Aging
- Committee on Foreign Relations
- * Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
- 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
Political positions
Johnson has maintained a conservative voting record in the Senate. In his first term, he was the fifth most conservative member of the Senate according to the NOMINATE scale. He has cited the libertarian novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand as a major influence on his political ideology. Johnson's supporters praise him for taking a direct, blunt approach to politics. His critics have compared him to a previous senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, who expressed far-right sentiments.Economy
During his first Senate campaign, Johnson described China as having a stronger business environment than the United States.Johnson opposed the first Trump administration's economic policy because of its high spending. He objected to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, feeling it was too generous to larger corporations and did little for small businesses, until he negotiated new tax breaks. He also opposed the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program, but he voted for the CARES Act stimulus program. He also opposed Trump's use of tariffs and supported restriction on the president's power to impose them.
Johnson was one of nine Republican senators who voted in favor of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. He voted to establish a financial oversight board for Puerto Rican debt in 2016. He voted against funding highways and transit programs through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021.
In 2021, Johnson expressed support for "increasing the minimum wage to some extent". In 2022, he said it was better for the "marketplace" to decide wages rather than having a government-mandated minimum wage.
Environment, climate change and energy
Johnson rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. In his 2010 Senate campaign, he described the understanding that climate change is manmade as "lunacy" and alleged that it is "not proven by any stretch of the imagination". He proposed sunspots and "the geologic eons of time" as alternative explanations. 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. He also disagreed that greenhouse gasses are harmful, saying that they feed trees. Johnson has disputed that he is a climate change denier.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 Senate campaign, but he later argued this was a misinterpretation of what he said and that he did not support drilling in the Great Lakes. He co-sponsored the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would block the EPA from imposing new rules on carbon emissions.
Fiscal issues
Johnson supported partial privatization of Social Security in his first Senate campaign, where he described the program as a Ponzi scheme.During Obama's presidency, Johnson was a fiscal hawk who called for federal spending cuts. He was involved in the deals to raise the debt ceiling in July 2011 and January 2013. Johnson argued that Congress could not keep raising the debt limit, and needed to prioritize spending. Johnson called for open negotiations over the debt ceiling, saying that the closed-door talks were "outrageous" and "disgusting." He noted that default should not have been a concern because the government had plenty of funding to pay interest on debt, Social Security benefits, and salaries for soldiers. 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. When asked whether he would get rid of home mortgage interest deductions, he said he "wouldn't rule it out" as part of an effort to lower taxes and simplify the tax code.
During the first presidency of Donald Trump, Johnson defended tax cuts, falsely claiming they reduced the deficit. He voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, having conditioned his support on increasing tax cuts for pass-through companies. The tax cut benefited, among others, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein and Diane Hendricks, who had contributed $20 million to Johnson's reelection campaign.
During the economic recession that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson voted for the CARES Act in March 2020, but staunchly opposed further stimulus. In December 2020, he sought to block a bipartisan proposal to provide $1,200 in COVID-19-related stimulus checks, citing the national debt.
In March 2021, Johnson sought to obstruct and delay passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. 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 the bill.
In August 2022, Johnson criticized the federal Social Security and Medicare programs for contributing to debt by being "on automatic pilot": "If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost"; he proposed instead to "turn everything into discretionary spending", which would result in programs needing to be approved by Congress every year.
Foreign policy
In the late 2010s, Johnson was a major advocate of military aid for Ukraine. He attended the 2019 inauguration of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine and considered Zelenskyy an ally against Russia. He voted against a bill to condemn Trump's handling of sanctions against Russia.Johnson voted against American military withdrawal from Yemen.
Gun policy
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. He supports the right to concealed carry, and he believes increased gun ownership will allow defensive gun use that could act as a deterrent to violent crime. He has described mandatory gun buyback programs as "compensated confiscation" and has emphasized the importance of due process in the implementation of any red flag laws. He opposes high-capacity magazine bans. In response to school shootings, Johnson proposed a school security law. Johnson initially said that he was open to firearms licensing during his 2010 Senate campaign, but he later said he had been misunderstood.In 2013, Johnson was a cosponsor of S. 570, a bill that would prohibit the Department of Justice from tracking and cataloging the purchases of multiple rifles and shotguns. In April 2013, Johnson was one of 12 Republican senators to sign a letter threatening to filibuster any newly introduced gun control legislation. That month, Johnson joined 45 other senators in defeating the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would have required background checks on all sales of guns, including between individuals. Johnson had received about $1.2 million in contributions from firearms interests since his 2010 Senate campaign. 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 Joe Biden's tenure with mass homicide. 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. The alleged shooter then drove directly to Madison, Wisconsin, allegedly intending to continue his rampage at that city's Independence Day parade. 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. 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." Cavuto countered Johnson's claim during the interview, saying that such shootings had "been going on long before CRT and wokeness."
Health care
Johnson supported the Republican strategy of "repeal and replace" in opposition to the Affordable Care Act. He continued supporting the total repeal of the Affordable Care Act when the Republican Party changed its position to a partial repeal, although he left the issue aside in the lead up to his 2016 reelection campaign.In 2013, Johnson declined to support efforts to tie funding the federal government to defunding ACA, noting that such efforts were highly unlikely to succeed given Obama's opposition. 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 to members of Congress and their staff. The suit was dismissed for lack of standing, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal on appeal.
Johnson rebutted Senator Jay Rockefeller in a May 2014 hearing when the latter suggested that opposition to the Affordable Care Act was motivated by racism against Barack Obama.
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." 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 Sen. McCain is going through."
In 2022, Johnson said that Republicans should repeal the ACA if they take control after the 2022 elections.
Abortion
In 2011, Johnson co-sponsored a federal bill that would grant all fetuses the same rights and protections as people, with no exceptions for fetuses arising from rape or incest. 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. 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.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. 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." Johnson said did not see that decision "as a huge threat to women's health" and suggested that those who did not like it "can move" from Wisconsin to another state.
Johnson supports allowing abortions in the case of rape, incest, or risk to the mother's life, and he supports the promotion of contraceptives.
COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson voted against the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which passed the Senate on March 18, 2020, by a vote of 90–8. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson said he was aware "what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it's obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population... ut we don't shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It's a risk we accept so we can move about. We don't shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu". His comments were met with criticism that he was "playing down" the threat of COVID-19. Johnson responded that he was "just trying to look at this very realistically".Johnson used his position as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to invite witnesses to hearings to promote fringe theories about COVID-19. The witnesses promoted unproven drugs, made dubious claims about COVID-19 spread and pushed skepticism about vaccines. Johnson called pulmonologist Pierre Kory to testify about his experiences with Ivermectin, as well as a medical doctor who "has cast doubts on coronavirus vaccines and has pushed for the use of hydroxychloroquine", and a cardiologist who disagrees with "settled science". After the FDA revoked the emergency use authorization from hydroxychloroquine in June 2020, Johnson and two other senators wrote the agency in August for an explanation of why the FDA was unresponsive to Trump administration officials' calls to reauthorize the drug as a COVID-19 treatment.
In early 2021, Johnson was skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines. Asked about COVID-19 vaccines in March 2021, he refused to say whether they were safe or to encourage people to get vaccinated. In April 2021, he downplayed the need for widespread COVID-19 vaccinations. Johnson has falsely suggested that people who have contracted COVID do not need to be vaccinated, and that there is no need for young people to be vaccinated. These claims contradict known science and the recommendations of health officials, who note that herd immunity is the most effective way to halt COVID-19's spread and severity. In December 2021, he recommended mouthwash as a treatment for the coronavirus during a town hall meeting, immediately drawing criticism. A dental-professional-focused website run by Listerine, one of the world’s most widely used mouthwash products, specifically says the evidence is not strong enough to conclude that it is helpful against COVID-19.
In May 2021, Johnson falsely claimed that thousands of deaths were connected to COVID vaccinations. He also falsely stated that there was a risk of death for people previously infected with COVID who received the vaccine. YouTube suspended Johnson from posting videos on the platform for seven days over his remarks touting unproven treatments for COVID-19.
After Twitter suspended Alex Berenson for making false claims about the pandemic and vaccines, Johnson praised him as "a courageous voice of reason" and encouraged people to continue reading Berenson's writing on another site.
In an October 2021 interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Johnson falsely claimed that ivermectin was being suppressed as a COVID-19 treatment in favor of expensive COVID-19 drugs developed by the pharmaceutical industry, and that "the Pfizer vaccine available in the U.S. is not FDA-approved" because it was not the "Comirnaty version". "Comirnaty" is the United States Adopted Name that was assigned to the Pfizer vaccine after it the FDA approved it. Doses produced before the approval contain no formulaic differences from those produced afterward and are interchangeable.
In September 2024, Johnson wrote a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, calling on them to review the 1-year and 2-year mortality rates for those who got a second dose of the Spikevax and Comirnaty vaccines in 2021. He also urged them to review the 1-year mortality rate ratio for mRNA vaccines between those who died in high COVID months and in low COVID months. He wrote that Spikevax increased all-cause mortality, citing studies by Steve Kirsch and Clare Craig on COVID vaccination and mortality rates in Czech Republic.
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. 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". Johnson is a supporter of 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." Johnson has also falsely claimed on the Charlie Kirk show that COVID-19 vaccines were causing athletes to die on the playing field. 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.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 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. founded.
Immigration
Johnson voted against the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.Johnson supported Trump's decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, 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.
In 2021, Johnson lent credence to the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory promoted by white supremacists that holds that nonwhite people in the West are purposely replacing white people. On conservative media broadcasts, Johnson repeatedly referred to the supposed "Democrat grand plan," endorsing the theory, saying, "I've got to believe they want to change the makeup of the electorate."
Judiciary
Johnson is one of the Senate Republicans who favored the "nuclear option" of ending the 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".In 2022, Johnson blocked a Biden administration nominee, William Pocan, from serving as a federal district court judge in Wisconsin. The previous year, Johnson and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin jointly recommended Pocan. In justifying blocking Pocan, Johnson referenced the Mayfair Mall shooting in Wauwatosa. Pocan had no involvement in the Wauwatosa shooting.
Social issues
In March 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. In 2015, Johnson was one of 11 Senate Republicans to vote to allow same-sex spouses to have access to federal Social Security and veterans' benefits.Johnson has expressed a willingness to explicitly legalize same-sex marriage federally. In July 2022, he initially expressed support for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify same-sex marriage into federal law. Johnson reversed his stance in September 2022, saying he "would not support it in its current state". He voted against the act in 2022. Johnson also voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Johnson voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Johnson has a "D" rating from NORML for his voting record on cannabis-related matters.
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 bring lawsuits while allowing an additional three years for past victims to sue. 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. 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.In June 2010 he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "I can't think of a penalty that would be too harsh for these guys". In September 2010, he said that 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." 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."
Trade
During his first campaign for the Senate, Johnson described free trade positively as "creative destruction" and said that offshoring jobs would eventually create new jobs in the United States. He voted to grant the president Trade Promotion Authority in 2015.Johnson voted in support of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. 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.
National security
Johnson expressed support for the Patriot Act when he was campaigning for the Senate in 2010. He also supported the Real ID Act, which brought him into conflict with more conservative groups that saw it as government overreach. He voted to ban mass collection of data by the National Security Agency.In an April 2025 interview with Benny Johnson, 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 a 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 claimed in an interview with Tucker Carlson a week earlier that the U.S. government covered up its role in the attacks, should be included as a part of the proposed investigation. 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.
Donald Trump support
Johnson is among the closest Congressional allies of President Donald Trump. He attacked Senator Mitt Romney for his vote to allow witnesses in a Trump impeachment trial. Asked subsequently about the confrontation with Romney, Johnson told reporters, "those are private conversations", continuing, "That's grotesque you guys are recording". A reporter noted that the press is permitted to witness the proceedings. Johnson said an impeachment vote would simply "inflame the situation".As chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Johnson launched multiple investigations into Trump's political opponents, including Joe Biden. In September 2020, after saying for months that he was undertaking an investigation that would demonstrate Biden's "unfitness for office", he released a report that found no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden in relation to Ukraine. Johnson's report reiterated unproven allegations, many of which had been elements of Russian disinformation campaigns meant to smear Biden.
In January 2018, Johnson said he had an informant with information 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". 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. In February 2018, he further 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. 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.
In April 2019, Johnson defended Trump's statement that some high-level FBI agents were "scum", and said, "I think there's a proven fact there was definitely corruption at the highest levels of the FBI." In 2021, he confirmed reporting that the FBI warned him that he was a target of Russian disinformation. In 2022, Johnson described the August 2020 warning as that the "FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me".