November 8, 2016 2022 → 50.2% 46.8% | 1,479,471 1,380,335 Date 8 November 2016 | |
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Winner Ron Johnson | ||
The 2016 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Wisconsin, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on August 9, 2016.
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Incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson was re-elected to a second term in office. Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, whom Johnson narrowly unseated in the 2010 midterm Tea Party wave, sought a rematch for a fourth non-consecutive term in office but was again defeated by Johnson, who became the first Republican to win a Senate election in Wisconsin in a presidential election year since Bob Kasten in 1980. Kasten was ultimately unseated by Feingold in 1992.
Background
In 2010, then-incumbent Democratic Senator Russ Feingold ran for re-election to a fourth term in 2010 but was defeated by Republican nominee Ron Johnson. Feingold hinted that he might seek a re-match with Johnson.
In March 2013, Johnson announced that he was running for re-election and had begun fundraising. At that time, he had just $1,529 remaining in his campaign account after raising $16.1 million for the 2010 election, over half of which he self-funded. Johnson said in November 2014 that he would not self-finance another campaign, saying: "I made my $9 million investment in this country. I gave it once, I don't think I should do it again."
After the Republicans took control of the Senate following the 2014 Senate elections, the election in Wisconsin was seen by many as a top target for the Democrats, who hoped to retake their majority in the traditionally blue state. Politico pointed to Johnson's "worrisome" favorability ratings as one of the main reasons for his vulnerability. A March 2014 Marquette University Law School poll found that just 29% of voters had a favorable opinion of him.
On May 14, 2015, Feingold announced he would run to win back his former Senate seat.
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Candidates
Polling
^ Internal poll taken for Ron Johnson.