MADISON, Wis (AP) – After President Donald Trump lost his re-election bid, most Republicans from the Senate, his Department of Justice and the courts rejected or disputed his unfounded allegations of a ‘stolen election’. Not Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.
The GOP senator used his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to highlight Trump’s allegations, claiming that millions of Americans ‘have real, legitimate suspicions that this election was stolen’ and are concerned about ‘so many irregularities here’.
This kind of trust in Trump has charmed Johnson to the extreme right-wing base in his state, but it could be costly if he decides to seek a third term in 2022. As Johnson weighs whether he wants to act again, his embrace is from Trump’s anti-democratic government. a campaign to overturn the election results has angered some mainstream Republican allies, and is poised to motivate Democrats who opposed Trump to new strength in the state.
Observers note that Johnson, who acted out of the tea party movement more than a decade ago, regularly behaved like a senator from a solid red state. But the November election showed that Wisconsin, which won Democrat Joe Biden by less than 21,000 votes, is anything but. The battle for his seat will be one of the most competitive races next year.
“I think if the election were a week from now, he would be in a world of hurt,” said Fond du Lac County Republican Party chairman Rohn Bishop. Bishop has criticized fellow Republicans like Johnson who have made claims of illegal election activities parrot, even though he is a Johnson supporter. But he notes that Johnson is in danger of losing moderate voters who are critical to winning.
‘It could hurt him with the suburban voters. … The election was not stolen, and it’s hard to convince people to vote for you if you try to throw away their legitimate ballot papers. ‘
Johnson has long been in line with Trump’s tough policies and policies. He led the investigation into investigating Biden’s son Hunter and rarely broke with the White House. Still, some Republicans were surprised to see the senator give credence to Trump’s post-election schemes, which included an attempt to throw out the ballots of 238,000 voters in the Milwaukee and Madison majority-Democratic areas.
Johnson’s trial on Dec. 16 to look at unfounded allegations of electoral fraud largely pushed Trump’s unfounded claims. And on January 6, just before the US Capitol stormed, Johnson objected to counting the election college votes from Arizona.
The editor of the conservative website Right Wisconsin published a scathing column a few hours before the riot, saying Johnson was on a “reckless path” by questioning the integrity of the election and that he would retire and lose if he returned. would participate.
After the riot, Johnson did not vote to object. Still, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in Wisconsin, asked Johnson to resign because he had incited an uprising.
Johnson responded with a newspaper column in which he called the editorial “indifferent and uninformed”. The Journal Sentinel took the rare step of annotating its answer, with 19 footnotes with additional context, fact-checking and corrections.
The Wisconsin State Journal, the second largest newspaper in the state, also called for Johnson to resign, and the anti-Trump Republicans behind The Lincoln Project targeted Johnson in the defeat, citing his support for conspiracy theories in the election and him compared to the disgraced former Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy.
Johnson remains popular below the GOP ground level, which is an important factor when thinking about whether he wants to run again, said Brian Reisinger, GOP strategist who worked on Johnson’s 2016 campaign. He noted that Johnson had succeeded in overcoming non-chancellors who did not give him much chance of winning, first against then-US Senator Russ Feingold in 2010 and again in 2016.
“There are a lot of people who look at Ron Johnson, and they see the political resilience he’s had over the years despite being a dead man twice before,” Reisinger said.
Johnson vowed not to seek a third term in 2016, but backed down three years later, saying he wanted to see the 2020 election go. He also said he is considering running for governor in 2022.
Johnson, 65, has said in recent weeks that he has not yet made a decision.
“My prejudice has always been to serve two terms and go home,” Johnson told the Central Milwaukee Journal last month before Democrats won several elections in Georgia to take majority control of the Senate. “It’s still my preference, but at the same time, the Senate is a kind of firewall against total control by Democrats, which I think would be a very bad thing for this country.”
Johnson and his spokesman Ben Voelkel declined to comment on his plans.
Republicans already have three vacancies in the Senate to defend. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio said they would not run again in 2022. Iowa GOP Senator Chuck Grassley, who turns 89 in 2022, is also on the ballot, and two-term Missouri Republican Roy Blunt has not said whether he will seek a third.
If Johnson retires, it will likely be free on both sides.
A number of Republicans are seeking the Senate or the governor, depending on what Johnson does. Potential candidates for the Republican Senate include U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy and Kevin Nicholson, who lost a 2018 Republican Senate primary.
Mandela Barnes, the state’s first black lieutenant governor, treasurer Sarah Godlewski and senator Chris Larson of Milwaukee, are on the list of Democratic hopefuls.
Alex Lasry, the senior vice president of the Milwaukee Bucks, who helped make the successful attempt to host the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee in 2020 before the coronavirus sent the event virtually completely online, also consider a run. Lasry is the son of billionaire hedge fund manager and Democratic bundler Marc Lasry and could possibly fund his chance himself.
Another potential candidate is Steven Olikara, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Millennial Action Project. Tom Nelson, CEO of Outagamie County, has already declared his candidacy.