Ron Johnson
Republican US Senator for Wisconsin, reported to be Thune's pick to chair the Senate Budget Committee after Graham's death.
Ron Johnson became Senate Budget Committee chairman on 22 July 2026, taking the gavel that opens Republicans' reconciliation route for $10bn in state voter-ID grants on a bare 51-47 floor.
Last refreshed: 26 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Will Ron Johnson's Budget Committee chairmanship be formally confirmed?
Timeline for Ron Johnson
Voter ID moves into the budget
US Midterms 2026Thune reported to pick Johnson as chair
US Midterms 2026Background
Johnson has been Wisconsin's senior senator since 2011, when he unseated Democrat Russ Feingold; he won a rematch in 2016 and defeated Mandela Barnes in 2022. His current term runs to January 2029.
Before politics he ran a plastics manufacturer in Oshkosh. He has chaired the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, from 2015 to 2021, and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and holds seats on the Finance and Aging committees alongside Budget .
His elevation to the Budget Committee gives him a gatekeeping role over Senate reconciliation bills that his own record complicates: he has repeatedly opposed such packages on deficit grounds, a markedly different proposition for the chamber's fiscal agenda than the late Lindsey Graham had been .
Johnson now chairs the Budget Committee
Johnson replaces the late Lindsey Graham, whose Budget Committee chairmanship ended with his death on 11 July; Majority Leader John Thune had been reported as planning to install Johnson since 13 July, and the move became official on 22 July, the same day the House passed its own $10bn voter-ID grant resolution 216-214 .
The chairmanship puts a senator who has repeatedly opposed reconciliation packages on deficit grounds in charge of steering one through the Senate on a bare 51-47 floor, a different proposition for the SAVE Act's Senate path than Graham had been .
