Dems wants to face Ron Johnson once again

Johnson is among the most inflammatory voices of post-Trump Washington, rejecting opinions on Black Lives Matter and the Capitol insurgency, enthusiastically blocking stimulus checks and courting controversy almost daily. He investigated the son of current President Joe Biden last year and had an argument with the new Democrats’ campaign arm chairman over election allegations. And although the senator said five years ago that he would not run for a third term, he currently does not know if he should run in 2022.

Officially, Senate Republicans want him to run again. But Johnson has an icy relationship with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after national Republicans aligned with McConnell bailed out Johnson in the final months of his first re-election campaign. in 2016. McConnell looks forward to Johnson is due to make a decision soon, according to people familiar with the matter.

Republicans want clarity because they are already defending a free seat in a state Joe Biden won in last year’s presidential race in Pennsylvania. With the Senate also divided to 50 seats for each party, a single race in a swing state like Wisconsin could determine a majority in 2023.

But Johnson takes his time, freezing what is arguably one of the most expensive and competitive Senate battlegrounds in the country, saying in a brief interview: “I have plenty of time to decide.

And in a rare twist, Democrats believe they might have a better chance against the incumbent who beat former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) In back-to-back contests in 2010 and 2016.

Democrats’ chances of overthrowing GOP seats in Missouri and Ohio have increased dramatically after Republican senators recently announced their retirement, creating open primaries that divide in otherwise red states. But in Wisconsin, one of the most divided swing states in the country, Democrats counterintuitively say they would be in favor of facing Johnson again, even though he has twice shocked their party on polling day.

Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said he saw an “explosion” of small donations and volunteers after Johnson’s recent wave of controversial headlines. While Wikler warned that it was impossible to predict the most viable candidates within a year and a half of the election, he said defeating the senator could send a “bigger message.”

“I hope Ron Johnson runs and loses so dramatically that Republicans rethink the extreme, fear-mongering and conspiratorial style of politics that has marked the country so much over the past four years,” Wikler said in an interview.

His. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), The new chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, does not see the nomination as an advantage for Johnson, who called Peters a liar in December: “I see Wisconsin as a very good opportunity for us to take our place. And I don’t think it matters whether Senator Johnson or anyone else is running.

Johnson mocked the Democrats’ eagerness to confront him, saying he “doesn’t care what they think.” He brushed aside questions of whether the start was an advantage in the race.

“I am not a political expert. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there, when I decide whether to run or not, ”he said. Johnson, a businessman who had never applied for public office before running for office in 2010, admitted, however, that being a senator has “always been a frustrating job.”

Former President Donald Trump encouraged Johnson to run again, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Chairman of the Republican National Senate Committee, has said he is optimistic the senator will seek a third term.

But many Republicans, including McConnell, remain silent given the risky political alliance between the leader of the minority and Johnson, according to a senior Republican Senate adviser familiar with internal dynamics. Johnson believes McConnell baited him too early in 2016, though Johnson won his rematch with Feingold and helped solidify the GOP majority during Trump’s presidency. Still, McConnell would back Johnson if he ran again, a source close to McConnell said.

“No one thought Ron Johnson could win the first time around. Nobody thought Ron Johnson was going to be elected the second time around, ”said a GOP senator. “If he has a better chance of being the Republican senator from Wisconsin than anyone else, we are for him.

Chris Hartline, a spokesperson for the NRSC, praised Johnson for “retaliating against the broad radical left government program and aggression against working class Americans” and said the committee “would fight aggressively” for support him if he ran again, which would contrast with his last campaign.

Some republicans Also worry that if Johnson does comply, his surgery will be ill-prepared for the intense campaign. Johnson had just $ 560,000 in his campaign account at the end of last year, significantly less than most incumbents. He is not expected to issue a big mail for the first quarter of this year, with the reports due to the Federal Election Commission on April 15. Still, Johnson is wealthy and could self-finance part of his campaign.

An extended timetable for Johnson to make up his mind could deprive potential replacements of time to develop their own campaigns if he retires. Johnson’s allies are brushing aside such concerns, pointing out that he did not officially launch his 2016 re-election campaign until May of the election year, and that a shortened primary could actually benefit the replacements if he chooses to not to show up, like she did for him in 2010..

Andrew Hitt, Wisconsin GOP chairman, said Johnson can wait until early 2022 before making a decision, and that the biggest impact would be on those who might come forward to replace him.

“We have to win Wisconsin. We need to keep the seat in the hands of the Republicans, and he won’t do anything that could endanger that, ”Hitt said. “I’m not at all worried that he’s just going to sit back and relax for 2021 and do nothing.”

Brandon Scholz, a political strategist from Wisconsin who has worked on GOP campaigns in the past, said Democrats have put a target on Johnson as a villain, who is “brash and says what he thinks.”

“It gives a lot of openings to use what he says. But don’t read it like, “It’s a cinch,” Scholz said. “If he decides to run he’s tough and will be tough to beat.

Despite Johnson’s notoriety among Democrats, there are serious benefits to the office, including fundraising prowess, name identification, and existing political networks. And if Johnson were to retire, it would create an open primary at the end of next summer, which could cause intra-party friction – something Democrats themselves face in what looks like a nomination contest. expensive and competitive.

Two Democrats are already in the running – Alex Lasry and the Milwaukee Bucks executive Nelson, the Outagamie County Executive. Lasry, the son of billionaire Bucks owner and Democratic megadonor Marc Lasry, announced on Thursday that he had raised more than $ 1 million for his campaign, with only $ 50,000 from his own personal funds. Several other Democrats could run, including state treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, creating a crowded field for next year’s primary.

Johnson ran for the Senate in 2010 as a political outsider, highlighting his business career and spending just under $ 9 million of his own money to win the seat. More recently, he courted controversy for investigating Hunter Biden as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and telling a radio interviewer last month that he was not afraid during the riot of the Capitol Hill, although it might have been if the intruders were “tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters.”

Dave Cieslewicz, the former Democrat Mayor of Madison said Johnson may have alienated some of the swing voters he needed, but it wouldn’t be easy.

“We might be better off if he ran again because he said just unbelievably stupid things, and I think those are the insane moderate voters,” Cieslewicz said. But he warned: Democrats “always underestimate the guy.”