MADISON, Wis. — On the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob, the role of Wisconsin’s GOP politicians in this attack on our democracy remains should not be forgotten.
Republican politicians in Wisconsin began questioning the results of the 2020 election the very morning after polls closed, and have continued their attacks on our democracy even after the riots of January 6th.
Here’s a reminder of the many attempts to thwart democracy by Republican politicians in Wisconsin in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2020 loss:
- Derrick Van Orden joined thousands of violent insurrectionists on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol as they attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Van Orden attempted to cover-up his involvement in the insurrection, but the picture of him behind police barricades inside a restricted area on Capitol grounds tells a different and more troubling story.
- Van Orden repeatedly pushed the Big Lie, parroting Trump’s baseless claims that “there was a tremendous amount of voter fraud in this election.”
- Ron Johnson fueled the attack on the Capitol, announcing days before the insurrection his intention to object to the results of the 2020 election.
- Johnson also spread baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud starting the days before the 1/6 attack.
- Thanks to the work of the January 6th Committee, we now know Johnson pushed in the weeks after the 2020 election for Wisconsin’s Legislature to overturn the will of Wisconsin voters.
- Despite his pleas for Trump to call off his supporters on the day of the riot, Mike Gallagher later voted against holding Trump accountable and flip-flopped on his support for former GOP caucus chair Liz Cheney, voting to remove Cheney after she spoke out repeatedly against Trump’s false claims the election was stolen from him.
- Scott Fitzgerald aided Trump’s plot to install fake presidential electors by facilitating access to the Wisconsin Capitol.
- Tom Tiffany and Scott Fitzgerald voted against certifying the 2020 election. Fitzgerald’s vote against our democracy was his first vote as a member of Congress.
- Every Wisconsin Republican in Congress voted against electoral reform measures designed to prevent future January 6th-style attacks.
