An ad campaign denouncing Sen. Ron Johnson, R. Wis., over his Jan. 6 Capitol riot response was arranged by a body composed of more than 20 unions and known progressive groups, which also slammed the senator who voted against the federal voting rights bill.
The 30-second television and print ad campaign, which started on Sunday, was worth $800, 000.
Among the groups that joined the campaign are the Sierra Club, the NAACP, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the National Education Association labor union, and the Working Families Party.
The push for a federal voting bill and finance reform was labeled as the “Democracy for All 2021 Action.”
The ad kicks off with the line: “You’re failing us, Sen. Johnson. Protecting our democracy has never been partisan, and yet you refused to investigate the deadly attack on our Capital.”
The violent riot which is backed with video footage of rioters destroying windows was flashed on the ad, going by the senator’s statement: “By and large it was a peaceful protest.”
“By and large it was all, it was a peaceful protest, except for there were a number of people, basically agitators, that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol. And you know, that’s really the truth of what’s happening here,” Johnson’s full statement with Fox News in May went.
While Johnson has not yet expressed his re-election bid, Democrats in Wisconsin are starting to show their willingness to go against the senator for the polls next year.
The ad, moreover, threw critics against Johnson for obstructing the sweeping election and campaign legislation of the Democrats, called the For the People Act, which necessitates all states to allow early voting.
“Access to the polls matters to all Americans, and yet you blocked voter protections that have the support of Democrats, Republicans and independents,” the narrator said in the ad, NBC News reported.
Last month, Johnson, along with other Republicans came together to filibuster the legislation, blocking it to reach the Senate.