Mayor Asks Tom Tiffany To Stop ‘Pandering to Dishonesty’ on Elections
Open letter includes an invitation to tour city's election systems, meet with officials.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson confers with election director Paulina Gutiérrez during a tour of the 2024 election absentee ballot counting process. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson is standing up for the city’s election officials and processes as U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, continues to question the results.
Tiffany, in response to a question about the election Monday, said “the problem with the 2020 election was the improprieties that happened.”
He also expressed support for the FBI’s newly launched investigation into Wisconsin elections.
Johnson responded that there is no merit to the effort beyond “fantasies and lies.”
“Your recent comments about the 2020 Presidential election strike me as ill-informed, hurtfully based on innuendo, and harmful to America’s democracy,” wrote Johnson in a letter to Tiffany on Tuesday. “Just as Donald Trump won elections in 2016 and 2024, it is unambiguously clear Joe Biden won the 2020 election, here in Wisconsin and across the United States. Highly aggressive challenges, underway for more than five years, have uncovered no substantive irregularities. Inquiries, investigations and lawsuits confirm our elections are conducted with scrupulous fidelity to the law.”
A full recount was conducted in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which expanded Biden’s margin of victory. Several lawsuits from the Trump campaign were dismissed. A legislative audit turned up no wrongdoing, nor did a state-funded investigation, initiated by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
“The current FBI examination in Milwaukee is plainly a weaponization of the justice system. There is no basis for the current investigation beyond fantasies and lies advanced by charlatans,” wrote Johnson.
Johnson included an invitation to Rep. Tiffany to come to Milwaukee to see the city’s processes firsthand.
“I would welcome you to Milwaukee City Hall for an in-depth discussion and tour of our election systems. I invite you to meet with our team so that you can fully appreciate their work,” wrote Johnson.
The Tiffany campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was considering the offer.
The city’s elections are led by Paulina Gutiérrez and overseen by a bipartisan board. The results are transmitted to Milwaukee County.
Tiffany, on Monday, voiced support for the FBI’s investigation, which has included visiting the home of Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County election director. Hawley is an appointee of elected County Clerk George Christenson and was the only deputy in the 2020 election.
“Whatever they’re searching for, the investigation should be allowed to continue and let’s find out what happened there,” said Tiffany. “If there’s improprieties that happened then there should be charges filed. If not, then you let the investigation cease.”
But Johnson said Tiffany is “pandering to dishonesty” and challenged Tiffany to “speak truth to power” to Trump.
“Without the slightest justification, your comments misleadingly cast doubt on our election processes. You undermine voters’ faith that any authentic democracy must maintain. You open the door for future swindlers to illegitimately seize power,” wrote Johnson.
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