As if Ron Johnson’s involvement in trying to overturn the results of 2020 election on January 6 wasn’t bad enough, Senator Johnson has now been caught employing one of the fake electors involved in the criminal conspiracy.
Johnson’s campaign hired one of 10 Wisconsin Republicans who falsely and illegally claimed to be a presidential elector in 2020.
Lawrence Andrea
08/31/22
Key Points:
- While Senator Ron Johnson has downplayed his office’s connection to delivering false packets of electors to former Vice President Mike Pence on January 6th, one of Wisconsin’s false electors has been working on Johnson’s re-election campaign.
- Pam Travis, one of 10 Wisconsin Republicans who signed official-looking paperwork falsely claiming to be a presidential elector in 2020, has been a full-time staffer on Johnson’s re-election campaign since March 2022.
- Federal Election Commission reports indicate Johnson’s campaign paid Travis more than $10,200 for her work since April, and the campaign reimbursed Travis for just over $3,500 in mileage costs between May and July.
- Travis currently serves as the GOP’s 7th Congressional District’s vice chair. She also worked as the former treasurer of the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women and was a county coordinator during the Senator’s 2016 campaign.
- Travis’ work on Johnson’s current race against Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, however, comes amid revelations this summer that Johnson’s office communicated with Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly’s team to try to hand Pence false elector paperwork from Wisconsin and Michigan as part of former President Donald Trump’s effort to stop certification of the 2020 election.
- A Pence aide told Johnson’s chief of staff not to give Pence the documents so the electors were never delivered.
- Still, Johnson has come under fire for his office’s connection to the effort. On Tuesday, Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Phil Shulman said: “Instead of focusing on what’s best for Wisconsinites — lowering costs and supporting the creation of good paying jobs — Ron Johnson’s working to undermine democracy.”
- When asked during a campaign stop last week if he would testify before the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol about Wisconsin’s slate of false electors, Johnson said he “had nothing to do with Jan. 6.”
- “My involvement in that attempt to deliver spanned the course of a couple seconds,” Johnson said. “I think I fielded three texts and sent two and talked to my chief of staff that somebody wants you to deliver something.”
- Further investigation into those electors in Wisconsin and six other states, Thompson said, is being pursued by the Department of Justice. The DOJ has subpoenaed a number of people connected to the elector scheme as part of its probe in multiple states, including some of the false electors themselves.
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