WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 03: Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) holds up a redacted document during a hearing about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 03, 2020 in Washington, DC. Crossfire Hurricane is the code name for the FBI's 2016 counterintelligence investigation into possible links between President Donald Trump's associates and Russian officials. A Justice Department Inspector General report found no political bias in the initiation of the investigation, which resulted in the Mueller Report finding that the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with the Russian government. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), who is running for reelection, refused to commit to accepting the election results next week and accused Democrats of making plans to cheat, without showing evidence to back his claims.
“I sure hope I can, but I can’t predict what the Democrats might have planned,” Johnson said on Thursday during a campaign event, asked if he would accept the results.
“You know, we’re not trying to do anything to gain partisan advantage, we’re just doing whatever we can to restore confidence. It sure seems like there’s an awful lot of, in the past, a lot of attempts on the part of Democrats to make it easier to cheat,” he added.
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Johnson remarks make him the highest-ranking elected official to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the midterm election.
The senator, who faces Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in the Senate election, is a prominent believer of conspiracy theories.
He has suggested, for example, that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and other members of Congress have voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to cover up their own responsibility in the riot. There are no evidence to support that claim.
Earlier this week, former President Barack Obama highlighted the harm that election deniers are having on American democracy.
Talking to a crowd of voters in Arizona, Obama said that democracy might not survive if GOP candidates who embrace conspiracy theories are elected next week.
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