U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is distancing himself from former President Donald Trump as the midterms approach.
“First of all, my election’s about me running as a U.S. Senator dealing with issues that are impacting Wisconsinites,” Johnson said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “I don’t personally think Trump should have any impact whatsoever on this election, November 2022. What he does in the future, that’s a decision he’s going to make.”
Johnson said the Jan. 6 committee has distorted his role in the attempt to deliver a slate of false electors to former Vice President Mike Pence.
“What would they ask me to testify about?” Johnson said when asked if he would testify before the committee. “I had nothing to do with the alternate slate. I had no idea anybody was going to ask me to deliver those. My involvement in that attempt to deliver spanned the course of a couple seconds.”
Johnson also said he is working on his own amendment meant to protect religious freedom as Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Senate Democrats’ attempt to codify same-sex marriage.
“Before I would ever support that, again, it’s completely unnecessary,” Johnson said. “This bill is completely unnecessary. The decision on gay marriage will never be overturned.”
Johnson, who is trailing Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in recent polls from Marquette Law School and Fox News, said the race will be close and he’s taking “nothing for granted.”
“In this race, it’s a very clear choice,” he said. “You can vote for someone like myself who voted against the massive deficit spending that sparked the 40-year high inflation or you can vote for somebody who supports that.”
State Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, says she’s heard “crickets” from Republicans about Democrats’ request to audit Michael Gableman’s Office of Special Counsel.
“We need to provide some guardrails here in Wisconsin,” said Agard, a member of the Joint Audit Committee. “It was clear that he was inept and this money was not being spent in the best interest of the state of Wisconsin. But how is it that we as a state spend these dollars looking backwards, looking forward? We need to make sure that things like this don’t ever happen again.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, fired Gableman amidst political fallout, ending Gableman’s investigation into the 2020 election that will cost taxpayers more than $1 million.
Vos said last week on UpFront he wouldn’t support an audit, adding all bills have been paid through the chief clerk’s office. Vos said lawmakers can access all the documents.
“We have a world-renowned audit bureau, nonpartisan here in the state of Wisconsin,” Agard said. “This is their job. They help us shore up our government, make sure all aspects of our government are working well. And it is clear having this blank checkbook in the speaker’s office is not working well for the people of Wisconsin.”
Agard said she’ll continue to push fellow Republicans.
Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School poll, says while Barnes has seen a post-primary bump, the question headed into November is whether it will last.
Among independent voters, Franklin’s poll showed 41 percent of those polled said they didn’t know enough about Barnes to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion compared to 15 percent for Johnson.
Barnes led in the poll 51 percent to 44 percent.
“That struggle to define him to the other 41 percent that don’t know him well, that’s a lot of this fall’s campaign,” Franklin said.
In the race for governor, Gov. Tony Evers polled at 45 percent compared to Tim Michels at 43 percent.
“The tightening we see post-primary is benefiting both of the primary winners – the Republican Michels benefits and the Democrat Barnes benefits,” Franklin said.
See more from the show:
https://www.wisn.com/upfront
