Paul O. Husting

Paul Oscar Husting (April 25, 1866 – October 21, 1917) was a member of the Democratic Party who represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1915 to 1917.

He was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He began his political career as an attorney and served as the district attorney of Dodge County from 1902 to 1906, and in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1907 to 1913. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1914 and served in the Senate from 1915 until his death. He was chairman of the Committee on Fisheries during 1917 and chairman of a committee investigating trespasses on Indian lands during his entire time in the Senate.

He was killed in a duck hunting accident on Rush Lake near Pickett, Wisconsin, the only United States senator known to have been killed this way. He is interred at the Graceland Cemetery in Mayville, Wisconsin.

His death was of momentous importance. If he had not died and been succeeded by a Republican, the Senate in 1919 would have been under Democratic control, since in 1919 the Senate had 49 Republicans and 47 Democrats and the Vice-President was a Democrat.