MADISON – U.S. Senator. Ron Johnson vows not to accept the results of the November presidential election, leaving the door open to objections to the certification of the election results — a scenario that prompted an attack on the U.S. Capitol four years ago when former president Donald Trump lost re-election.
Johnson told The Cap Times on Saturday that he could not answer whether he would accept the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, calling it an “impossible hypothetical.”
“We have to see exactly what happens,” Johnson said in an interview at the Republican Party convention in Appleton. “If there are all kinds of abuses, maybe we should start questioning those abuses, maybe we should investigate them. I definitely want to (accept the results).”
A spokeswoman for Johnson did not immediately answer questions early Sunday about what types of events might prompt Johnson to investigate.
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Johnson also hedged on accepting the results of the 2020 election four years ago, amid heavy pressure Trump put on Republicans to avenge his election loss, despite a lack of evidence to support it.
After the election, Johnson initially accepted Trump’s loss and said he had no plans to object to the certification in Congress. He later changed his mind and said that on January 6, 2021, he planned to join a dozen Republicans who would object to Joe Bidenelection victory in some states. He later changed his mind again after the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day.
Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this month that he would accept the results only if “everything is fair.”
“If not, you have to fight for the right of the land,” Trump said.
“But if all is fair, which we expect, it will be – there have been a lot of changes in recent years – but if all is fair, I will absolutely accept the results.”
He offered similar terms when he was asked the same question by news media in 2016 and 2020.
Trump said in the interview that he would “make it known” if he thought something was wrong with the election.
“I would be doing the country a disservice if I said otherwise,” he said. “But no, I expect fair elections and we may expect a very big victory.”
There is no evidence that Wisconsin’s 2020 election was tainted by cheating or fraud. The results have been confirmed by recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties that Trump paid for, court rulings, a nonpartisan state audit and an investigation by the conservative law firm Wisconsin. Institute of Law & Liberty, among other analyses.
In 2016, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to carry Wisconsin in more than three decades — a victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that propelled him to the presidency.
However, in 2020, Trump lost the state to Biden by about 21,000 votes. Yet Trump falsely claimed that the outcome was wrong and the result of widespread voter fraud — a lie that has since been repeatedly debunked.
Just like in 2020, voters will have a choice between Trump and Biden this fall. Wisconsin is one of the few swing states expected to determine the outcome this fall.
On May 2, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to Trump’s comments to the Journal Sentinel that Biden would accept the election results without conditions.
“As President Biden has previously promised, he will accept the will of the American people,” Jean-Pierre said. “That is a commitment from the president.”
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson will not promise to accept the presidential election results
