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Ben Wikler: “Ron Johnson holds teletown halls all the time.”

Featuring: Ben Wikler, Democratic | Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin

The Democratic Party Needs Change | The Ezra Klein Show

Published July 28, 2026 | Video Starts at 33:35

He won by 1 percentage point, but he, he did well enough that he was able to pull it off. So at one level it's that I also think that Ron Johnson holds teletown halls all the time. He speaks to the concerns of people who feel that they're marginalized from the political system. He is. I don't like this at all he's a huge vaccine skeptic and COVID vaccine skeptic. (33:35–33:39)

CLAIM

Asserts that Ron Johnson frequently holds teletown halls.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Ben Wikler

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“The United States Republican House majority [was affected by the North Carolina state Supreme Court race].”
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“Kamala Harris lost Wisconsin by less than a percentage point.”
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“Harris had done better than she had in any other battleground state in terms of how she did versus how Biden did.”
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“Our government, in so many ways, is set up to meet a million different goals other than delivering great public services.”
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“There's a ton that gets in the way right now of having a government that's capable of being responsive and effective.”
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“It's never been more urgent to have a government that is both responsive and effective.”
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“Democrats can rebuild trust in government and in themselves by being excellent and actually delivering.”
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“There were times in American life when parties were a huge part of your daily and monthly and weekly existence.”
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“When you became a naturalized citizen of the country, the local Democratic Party and sometimes the Republican Party was there to greet you.”
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“If they [Republicans] had won that super majority, they could have destroyed the Wisconsin Elections Commission and guaranteed future…”
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“It's in the state party's constitution that it is neutral in primaries.”
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“It's also part of that tradition to have the public get to call the shots.”
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“Wisconsin was the state that created open primaries.”
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“In 1948, there was this watershed moment. Joe McCarthy had just become the Republican senator in Wisconsin and the Democratic Party of…”
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“There is a essentially unified message this election cycle around affordability.”
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“Our federal government works for a cabal of far right billionaires and not for working people.”
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“Republicans in Wisconsin in the governor's race had a contested primary, and then it evaporated when Donald Trump tapped his favorite…”
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“Maybe 90% of voters already know who they're going to support even before they know who the candidates are.”
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“The GOP has announced they're going to run a campaign of hate, that Axios had this report that they're going to run a campaign trying to…”
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“Ron Johnson won by 1 percentage point [in 2022].”
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“Ron Johnson is a huge vaccine skeptic and COVID vaccine skeptic.”
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