Democrats highlight Johnson’s Jan. 6 remarks in new ad

End Citizens United and a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Wednesday that they were rolling out a seven-figure ad buy targeting Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) over his comments about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

“I’ll never forget Jan. 6, watching my fellow law enforcement officers defending the Capitol. Defending our freedoms. Defending democracy. And then, five officers died,” retired Madison Police Capt. George Silverwood says in the 30-second ad, called “Officers.”

“But Ron Johnson is making excuses for rioters who tried to overthrow our government, even calling them ‘peaceful protests.’ Johnson defended Donald Trump’s lies, and even supported efforts to make it harder for some people to vote at all. Sen. Johnson’s just not for us.”

According to the Senate Majority PAC and End Citizens United, the ad will air starting on Wednesday in the media markets of Madison and Milwaukee. NBC News was the first to report the ad. 

The ad refers to comments that Johnson made several months after the Capitol riot during an interview on Fox News’s “Ingraham Angle.”

“Even calling it an insurrection, it wasn’t,” Johnson said in May 2021. “You know, I condemned the breach. I condemned the violence, but to say there were thousands of armed insurrectionists breaching the Capitol intent on overthrowing the government is just simply false narrative.” 

“By and large, it was peaceful protest, except for there were a number of people, basically agitators that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol. That’s really the truth of what’s happening here,” he added.

The Senate Majority PAC separately rolled out a seven-figure ad buy seeking to contrast Johnson with Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes. The 30-second ad, called “Sold Out,” will run in the media markets of Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay.

“He made $57 million from a family business whose growth was directly linked to China,” a narrator in the ad says, referring to Johnson before pivoting to Barnes and saying, “His dad worked the third shift in an auto plant.”

“Johnson pushed tax breaks benefiting himself and his millionaire donors. Barnes will cut taxes for the middle class. Johnson would let states ban nearly all abortions. Barnes will protect our rights. Ron Johnson’s extreme and out for himself. Mandela Barnes works for us,” the narrator finishes the ad by saying.

Johnson’s campaign did not offer a comment on either of the two ads, but instead pointed The Hill toward an ad they released on Tuesday, which the campaign noted is running statewide in Wisconsin and targets Barnes over an interview he did with Russian state TV. 

The 30-second ad, called “Retaliatory Attack” shows clips of a 2016 interview he did with Russian news outlet RT following a shooting that took place in Dallas and killed five police officers. The ad ends with a narrator, asking “do you want Mandela Barnes representing you in the Senate?”

The Wisconsin Senate race is considered one of the most watched Senate races this cycle and could play a significant role in determining which party controls the upper chamber.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss up,” though recent polls show Johnson leading Barnes. A Marquette University Law School poll released last week showed the senator ahead of Barnes 52 percent to 46 percent.

Updated: 2:56 p.m.