Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., one of the more vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection this year, said Monday that he’s open to joining Donald Trump on the campaign trail.
“Stump with Trump?” he said Monday in Waukesha, Wis., in an interview with CNN. “Just because it rhymes: It’d be the Ronald [and] the Donald.”
Johnson faces a tough battle against former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., whom he beat by five points in 2010. The state is a Democratic-leaning one, as it voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, and most polls have said Feingold stands a good chance of winning back his old seat.
“Certainly, as I travel the state extensively, I hear a lot of support because what Donald Trump is saying resonates with an awful lot of people when it comes to the incompetence of Washington, D.C.,” Johnson said of the Republican presidential front-runner. “From what I’ve heard, Trump is running very strong up in the Northwest [part of Wisconsin] … that should also help me a bit, too.”
Johnson also said he doesn’t think the Senate Republicans’ decision not to consider the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court will hurt his re-election chances.
“Our supporters do not want to see the Supreme Court flipped from five conservatives to four liberal judicial activists,” he said of the 63-year-old chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “He’s got a proven record of being hostile to the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. That’s kind of important in the state of Wisconsin. So I think, in general, if anything, it will probably be to my benefit [to oppose hearings].”
Johnson’s comments echo those of his Senate colleagues, who also say Obama’s successor should appoint the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s replacement.
“If I have to vote, I’ll vote,” he said. “I don’t have any problem with that. But again, I recognize reality, that’s not going to happen. The fairest and most democratic process in terms of Supreme Court nominees is [to] let the American people have a voice.”
