Bob Kasten | |
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| United States Senator fromWisconsin | |
| In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Gaylord Nelson |
| Succeeded by | Russ Feingold |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's9th district | |
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Glenn R. Davis |
| Succeeded by | Jim Sensenbrenner |
| Member of theWisconsin Senate from the4th district | |
| In office January 1, 1973 – January 3, 1975 | |
| Preceded by | Nile Soik |
| Succeeded by | Jim Sensenbrenner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Walter Kasten Jr. (1942-06-19)June 19, 1942 (age 83) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses |
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| Education | University of Arizona (BA) Columbia University (MBA) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Service years | 1966–1972 |
| Unit | Wisconsin Air National Guard |
Robert Walter Kasten Jr. (born June 19, 1942) is an AmericanRepublican politician from thestate ofWisconsin who served two terms as aU.S. Representative from 1975 to 1979 and two terms as aUnited States Senator from 1981 to 1993.
Kasten was born inMilwaukee,Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Country Day School before graduating in 1960 fromThe Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) inWallingford, Connecticut, in 1964 from theUniversity of Arizona inTucson, and received his M.B.A. from theColumbia Business School in 1966. He served in the WisconsinAir National Guard from 1966 to 1972.[1]
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Kasten was elected to theWisconsin State Senate in 1972.
In 1974, he was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives after defeating incumbentGlenn R. Davis in aRepublican primary election. He was reelected in 1976. He ran forGovernor ofWisconsin in1978, but lost the Republican nomination toLee S. Dreyfus, who went on to win the general election.
Kasten ran for theUnited States Senate in1980 and narrowly defeatedDemocratincumbentGaylord Nelson. The victory was propelled in part by the popularity ofRonald Reagan at the top of the Republican ticket. In the Senate, Kasten was an outspokenconservative. He was the first Republican to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate sinceAlexander Wiley left office in 1963.
In 1985, Kasten was arrested and charged withdriving under the influence after aDistrict of Columbia police officer observed him running a red light and driving on the wrong side of the road.[2] The DUI charges were later dropped.[3]
In1986, Kasten narrowly defeated DemocratEd 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.[4] Kasten was defeated by Democratic state SenatorRuss Feingold in 1992.
Kasten voted in favor of thebill establishingMartin Luther King Jr. Day as afederal holiday and theCivil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to overridePresident Reagan's veto).[5][6][7] Kasten voted in favor of the nominations ofRobert Bork andClarence Thomas to theU.S. Supreme Court.
Since 1993, he has been President of Kasten & Company, a consulting firm. In July 2007, Kasten joined the presidential campaign of RepublicanRudy Giuliani as a foreign policy adviser.[8] He chaired Giuliani's Wisconsin campaign, along with former U.S. RepresentativeScott Klug and former State SenatorCathy Stepp.[9]
After Giuliani dropped out, Kasten endorsed his close friend and former Senate colleagueJohn McCain.[10] In April 2016, Kasten endorsed Republican frontrunnerDonald Trump forpresident in2016, becoming part of Trump'sforeign policy advisory team.[11]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Russ Feingold | 1,290,662 | 52.6 | ||
| Republican | Bob Kasten (incumbent) | 1,129,599 | 46.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob Kasten (incumbent) | 754,573 | 50.9 | ||
| Democratic | Ed Garvey | 702,963 | 47.4 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob Kasten | 1,106,311 | 50.2 | ||
| Democratic | Gaylord Nelson (incumbent) | 1,065,487 | 48.3 | ||
WriterMike Baron named a recurring character in his Wisconsin-basedcomic bookBadger after Kasten, then Wisconsin'sjunior senator. The character, apeg-legged,vampire-huntingpig named "Senator Bob Kasten", made several appearances in the series.[12][better source needed] A student political party on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus satirically named themselves the "Bob Kasten School of Driving" (a reference to his DUI arrest); it won the campus-wide elections in 1986 and 1987.[13]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's 9th congressional district 1975–1979 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromWisconsin (Class 3) 1980,1986,1992 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference 1991–1993 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Wisconsin 1981–1993 Served alongside:William Proxmire,Herb Kohl | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theSenate Small Business Committee 1991–1993 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded byas Former U.S. Senator | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Senator | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Senator |
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