ROTHSCHILD — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson told GOP activists today they have a problem: Donald Trump is not going to be on the ballot again.
And they have to figure out a way to win without him there.
The Oshkosh Republican often delivers a dose of reality to party activists when he addresses the state convention, and he did again today as he went over what he called a “crushing” defeat in the state Supreme Court race this spring.
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Dane County Judge Susan Crawford beat conservative Brad Schimel by 10 points, keeping control of the state Supreme Court in liberal hands through at least 2028. That loss came two years after then-Milwaukee Judge Janet Protasiewicz won an open seat to flip control of the court to liberals for the first time in 15 years.
Johnson said conservative Daniel Kelly got 61% of the vote he pulled the previous fall as he lost that 2023 Supreme Court race, while Schimel received 62% of Trump’s vote from November. But Protasiewicz and Crawford each hit 78% of Tony Evers and Kamala Harris’ vote totals in the previous falls.
He said 634,000 Wisconsinites who voted for Trump in 2024 didn’t show up in the spring Supreme Court race.
“We have to figure out how we win without Donald Trump on the ballot here in Wisconsin,” Johnson said.
The lawmaker also called for party unity in his speech and to again knock the House GOP version of the reconciliation bill.
He said the “big, beautiful bill” is anything but and would exacerbate the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade.
Johnson continued to call for the country to return to pre-pandemic spending levels, saying it’s a necessary step to shore up the nation’s finances and save programs such as Social Security and Medicaid.
He also shrugged off the pressure he’s received from some to support Trump’s push for the legislation, saying he originally ran because the nation was “mortgaging our children’s future.”
Johnson said he wants Trump to succeed. But the only way for that to happen is “if we actually bend the spending curve.”
“I’m going to insist that we do,” Johnson said, pounding the lectern for emphasis.
