VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler Explains Plan To Defeat Sen. Ron Johnson

Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler revealed to uPolitics his state party’s plans to oust Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) who has been at the center of several COVID-19 and election misinformation scandals. “Ron Johnson is a geyser of misinformation and propaganda,” Wikler said. “The defeat of Donald Trump hasn’t changed that one iota – he seems to be getting worse. This is someone who should not have the megaphone of a United States Senate seat. All he does is make people thinks things that are not true.”

Wikler noted that Johnson had baselessly accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) of involvement in organizing the Capitol rioters. The senator recently complained that videos of himself spreading COVID-19 misinformation during a Senate hearing had been pulled from YouTube. Wikler explained that through his dangerous behavior, Johnson is appealing to “voters who he thinks will follow him if he does whatever he can to cover for Trump.”

Transcript:

uPolitics’ Erik Meers: I know you have a campaign to oust Ron Johnson, but what are Wisconsin Dems doing specifically to further that end?”

“I would say the three things are organizing, outreach and communication. Organizing: we have a model based on the Obama model of neighborhood teams, local teams of organizers and volunteers in hundred of communities across the state, many in our larger communities that organize constant rounds of direct voter contact and listening to voters about what they care about. And we’ll be organizing continuously for the next two years. The second thing is reaching out to folks who aren’t necessarily already in the fold for Democrats. That includes really intentional working communities of color in Wisconsin and the black community Latino community, the Hmong community which is significant in Wisconsin, tribal nations, also in rural areas where Democrats are a constant target for right-wing propaganda, right-wing radio and Fox News on at every local bar. It is critical that Democrats show up and actually ask people for their vote, listen to them, and hear about their concerns. The third piece is communicating. We actually have run the first TV ad of the 2022 election cycle targeting Ron Johnson after the sedition, after the insurrection showing how linked to it he was. We’re not going to stop. There is a surprising number of Wisconsinites who don’t have an opinion about Ron Johnson yet just because they haven’t heard about the terrible things that he’s done and said. We’re going to make sure they are fully informed about how poorly they are currently represented in the United States Senate so that by the time election day rolls around, even if he tries to back up the truck with a huge volley of lies, smears and disinformation to try and recoup his losses, we will have already won this election.”

Article by Brandon Mumei