Johnson's victory marked the first time, since Morton S. Wilkinson took office in 1859, that neither of Minnesota's seats in the United States Senate were held by a Republican. It also marked the first time, since Wilkinson's assumption of the office, that the person holding Minnesota's Class 2 U.S. Senate seat was not a Republican, and Johnson became just the second non-Republican to ever hold that seat (the first being the Democrat James Shields, whose term of office ended when Wilkinson's began).