{{short description|American politician (born 1942)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Bob Kasten | image = BobKasten.jpg | state = Wisconsin | jr/sr = United States Senator | term_start = January 3, 1981 | term_end = January 3, 1993 | predecessor = Gaylord Nelson | successor = Russ Feingold | state1 = Wisconsin | district1 = {{ushr|wi|9|9th}} | term_start1 = January 3, 1975 | term_end1 = January 3, 1979 | predecessor1 = Glenn R. Davis | successor1 = Jim Sensenbrenner | state_senate2 = Wisconsin State | district2 = 4th | term_start2 = January 1, 1973 | term_end2 = January 3, 1975 | predecessor2 = Nile Soik | successor2 = Jim Sensenbrenner | birth_name = Robert Walter Kasten Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|6|19}} | birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = Republican | spouse = {{ubl |Eva Nimmons |Sarah Kasten}} | education = University of Arizona (BA)<br>Columbia University (MBA) | allegiance = {{flag|United States}} | branch = {{air force|United States}} | branch_label = Branch | service_years = 1966–1972 | service_years_label = Service years | unit = Wisconsin Air National Guard }} '''Robert Walter Kasten Jr.''' (born June 19, 1942) is an American politician from the state of Wisconsin. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. representative from 1975 to 1979 and as a U.S. senator from 1981 to 1993.
==Background== Kasten was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin before transferring to and graduating in 1960 from The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut. He graduated in 1964 from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He received his M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1966. He served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard from 1966 to 1972.<ref>'Wisconsin Blue Book 1991–1992,' Biographical Sketch of Robert W. Kasten, pg. 11</ref>
==Elected office== {{BLP sources section|date=May 2017}} Kasten was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1972.
=== U.S. Congress === In 1974, Kasten was elected to the United States House of Representatives after defeating incumbent Glenn R. Davis in the Republican primary election. He was reelected in 1976. He ran for governor of Wisconsin in 1978, but lost the Republican nomination to Lee S. Dreyfus, who went on to win the general election.
=== U.S. Senate === Kasten ran for the United States Senate in 1980 and narrowly defeated Democrat long-term incumbent Gaylord Nelson. The victory was propelled in part by the popularity of Ronald Reagan at the top of the Republican ticket. In the Senate, Kasten was an outspoken conservative. He was the first Republican to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate since Alexander Wiley left office in 1963.
In 1985, Kasten was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a District of Columbia police officer observed him running a red light and driving on the wrong side of the road.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-14-mn-409-story.html|title=Sen. Kasten Accused of Driving While Drunk|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 14, 1985|access-date=November 19, 2016}}</ref> The DUI charges were later dropped.<ref>{{cite news |title=Indictments--A Grand Congressional Tradition Since 1798 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=5 June 1994 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-06-05-op-1411-story.html |access-date=4 August 2024}}</ref>
In 1986, Kasten narrowly defeated Democrat Ed 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.<ref>{{cite news|author=Raymond Coffey|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/10/31/wisconsin-race-hits-low-road/|title=Wisconsin Race Hits Low Road|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=October 31, 1986|access-date=November 19, 2016}}</ref> Kasten was defeated by Democratic state Senator Russ Feingold in 1992.
Kasten voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/98-1983/s293|title=To Pass H.R. 3706. (Motion Passed) See Note(s) 19.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/s432|title=To Pass S 557, Civil Rights Restoration Act, a Bill to Restore the Broad Coverage and Clarify Four Civil Rights Laws by Providing that If One Part of An Institution Is Federally Funded, Then the Entire Institution Must Not Discriminate.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/s487|title=To Adopt, Over the President's Veto of S 557, Civil Rights Restoration Act, a Bill to Restore Broad Coverage of Four Civil Rights Laws by Declaring that If One Part of An Institution Receives Federal Funds, Then the Entire Institution Must Not Discriminate. Two-Thirds of The Senate, Having Voted in The Affirmative, Overrode the Presidential Veto.}}</ref> Kasten voted in favor of the nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
==After the Senate== Since 1993, he has been President of Kasten & Company, a consulting firm.
In July 2007, Kasten joined the presidential campaign of Republican Rudy Giuliani as a foreign policy adviser.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Craig Gilbert|author2=Katherine M. Skiba|author3=Audrey Hoffe|title=Former Wisconsin senator joins Giuliani's team|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|date=July 21, 2007|access-date=November 19, 2016|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=635899|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929131826/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=635899|archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> He chaired Giuliani's Wisconsin campaign, along with former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former State Senator Cathy Stepp.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=654765|title=Regional News Briefs|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|date=August 30, 2007|access-date=November 19, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625180027/http://www.jsonline.com/news/29390274.html|archive-date=June 25, 2016}}</ref>
After Giuliani dropped out, Kasten endorsed his close friend and former Senate colleague John McCain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://blog.4president.us/2008/2008/02/former-wisconsi.html |title=Former Wisconsin Senator Bob Kasten Endorses John McCain |website=blog.4president.us |date=February 13, 2008}}</ref> In April 2016, Kasten endorsed Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for president in 2016, becoming part of Trump's foreign policy advisory team.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gilbert |first=Craig |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/all-politics/2016/04/02/former-gop-sen-bob-kasten-joins-trump-foreign-policy-team/84880086/ |title=Former GOP Sen. Bob Kasten joins Trump foreign policy team |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>
==Electoral history== {{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, 1992}} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Democratic Party (US) |candidate = Russ Feingold |votes = 1,290,662 |percentage = 52.6 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Republican Party (US) |candidate = Bob Kasten (incumbent) |votes = 1,129,599 |percentage = 46.0 |change = }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, 1986}} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Republican Party (US) |candidate = Bob Kasten (incumbent) |votes = 754,573 |percentage = 50.9 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Democratic Party (US) |candidate = Ed Garvey |votes = 702,963 |percentage = 47.4 |change = }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, 1980}} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Republican Party (US) |candidate = Bob Kasten |votes = 1,106,311 |percentage = 50.2 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Democratic Party (US) |candidate = Gaylord Nelson (incumbent) |votes = 1,065,487 |percentage = 48.3 |change = }} {{Election box end}}
==Cultural references== Writer Mike Baron named a recurring character in his Wisconsin-based comic book ''Badger'' after Kasten, then Wisconsin's junior senator. The character, a peg-legged, vampire-hunting pig named "Senator Bob Kasten", made several appearances in the series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/k/kasten.htm|title=Senator Bob Kasten |website=Internationalhero.co.uk|access-date=November 19, 2016}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2017}} 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.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20121103161234/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-127635166.html Ex-UW Student Prez up for 'Annie']". ''The Capital Times'', January 24, 2005.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{CongLinks | congbio=K000019}} * {{C-SPAN|2362}}
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{{USSenWI}} {{United States representatives from Wisconsin}} {{USCongRep-start |congresses=94th–95th and 97th–102nd United States Congresses |state=Wisconsin}} {{USCongRep/WI/94}} {{USCongRep/WI/95}} {{USCongRep/Line}} {{USCongRep/WI/97}} {{USCongRep/WI/98}} {{USCongRep/WI/99}} {{USCongRep/WI/100}} {{USCongRep/WI/101}} {{USCongRep/WI/102}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasten, Bob}} Category:1942 births Category:20th-century United States representatives Category:20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature Category:20th-century United States senators Category:American Episcopalians Category:Choate Rosemary Hall alumni Category:Columbia Business School alumni Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States Congress who became lobbyists Category:Military personnel from Milwaukee Category:People from Wallingford, Connecticut Category:Politicians from Milwaukee Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Wisconsin Category:Republican Party United States senators from Wisconsin Category:Republican Party Wisconsin state senators Category:University of Arizona alumni