Ron Johnson suggests he might not run for reelection

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested Wednesday that he might not run for reelection in 2028, hinting at a potential race for an open Senate seat in a notable battleground state in a few years.

“I learned in my second run, when I absolutely meant ‘second and final,’ you can’t say never, never, OK?” Johnson said during a Milwaukee Press Club event Wednesday when asked about a 2028 run. 

“I don’t want to,” he added. “Yeah, I’d like to dig my heels in now, set this nation on a sustainable course and then go home.”

In the 2022 midterms, Johnson narrowly won over his Democratic opponent Mandela Barnes. Johnson’s race had been seen as a chance for Democrats to take down a sitting Senate Republican in a state former President Biden had won by a tight margin two years prior.

Johnson first became a senator in a 2010 election in which he made his way to victory on a Tea Party-fueled wave that assisted in Republicans securing the House that year.

Discussion about both major parties’ strategies for the 2026 and 2028 elections began swiftly after the 2024 elections, and President Trump’s dramatic second clinching of the presidency, following much controversy in the years prior.

During the Milwaukee Press Club event, Johnson said he doesn’t “covet” his role as a senator. 

“I don’t revel in the, ‘You know, I’m a U.S. senator,’” Johnson said, adding later that he is “just a guy from Oshkosh, just trying to — literally, trying to save this country.”