Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) campaign for a third term is already getting messy, as his communications director quit three months into the job.
Jake Wilkins, who started working for Johnson last February, confirmed to Heartland Signal that he resigned from Johnson’s reelection campaign earlier this month. He took any mention of the campaign out of his Twitter bio and has recently been liking tweets that are pro-abortion and anti-Trump.
“A woman’s right to choose is not up for debate,” Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said in one of the tweets Wilkins liked, referring to the Supreme Court’s impending reversal of Roe v. Wade. “This must not stand.”
Tweets liked by Jake Wilkins
Johnson is a fierce advocate of former President Donald Trump; He became known as a leading promoter of election fraud lies and COVID-19 misinformation pushed by the former president, even once pushing mouthwash as a viable treatment.
He told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that he doesnt think abortion is “the big political issue everybody thinks it is.” He recently voted against the Senate Democrats’ legislation to enshrine the Roe v. Wade precedent into federal law.
Johnson also had to deny that he’s pushed political arguments based in white supremacy, causing headaches for whomever his newest communications director could be. He pushed back against criticism that he promotes the “Great Replacement theory,” a conspiracy that claims minorities are being brought into the U.S. to replace white voters.
Johnson’s comments on a Fox Business segment last year echoed this sentiment: “This administration wants complete open borders. And you have to ask yourself why? Is it really they want to remake the demographics of America to insure their- that they stay in power forever?”
Johnson is losing senior staffers less than half a year until an election that could decide which party controls the Senate, which he previously pledged to not even run for again. His unfavorability ratings are the highest they’ve ever been, according to a poll in April by Marquette University Law School. The poll showed he was viewed favorably by 36% of Wisconsin voters, compared to 46% who viewed him unfavorably.
His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.