Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says “there’s always room for improvement” for Republicans ahead of Election Day, noting GOP Senate candidates are struggling in key swing states like Wisconsin.
“I’m somebody who holds myself to a high standard,” Ramaswamy said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “I can criticize the other side, but part of this is also holding our side to the highest possible standard. I think we’re doing great. I think I’d like to see many of the Senate candidates, one of the things that we’re seeing, it’s a hard truth, so I’ll just say it: Donald Trump is overperforming Senate candidates by double digits on the Republican side.
“So I think Donald Trump is doing great,” he added. “What I’d like to see in the next five weeks is a lot of down-ballot candidates take that level of fortitude and leadership to their own message as well as from Ohio to Wisconsin to candidates in other states as well. It’s not enough just to put Donald Trump in the White House.”
Ramaswamy was in Waukesha last week as part of a town hall hosted by the Trump campaign, which in part used a statewide bus tour to encourage Republicans to vote early.
“I think the message is totally consistent,” Ramaswamy said when asked about various comments made by Trump. “If you don’t like the rules, you’ve got to win to change the rules. And the only way you’re going to do it is by casting your vote in every legal manner possible. So that’s the only rules we have, so even if you don’t like the rules, you’ve got to win the election in a position to change it.”
Ramaswamy, who once ran against the former president, is now campaigning for Trump in these final weeks to reach not only independent voters but also those who once backed Ramaswamy himself.
“I think I would say the same thing and give them the same rationale that I would give the other independent voters as well,” Ramaswamy said. “I didn’t agree with Donald Trump on 100% of his policies when I ran for U.S. president, but I have endorsed him, and he has my full support because I think he is the best hope we have to revive the country over the next four years.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood, will be in Wisconsin campaigning this week for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Harris campaign continues its bus tour focused on abortion rights.
“We’re speaking to everyone,” McGill Johnson told “UpFront.” “To young people, to women, to men, to generations who truly understand what it means when a fundamental freedom has been taken away and the impact that it has on our care, our bodies, on our families and on our communities.”
McGill Johnson argued abortion rights are an economic issue as Wisconsin voters, alongside women and independents, say the economy is the top issue ahead of the election.
“Reproductive rights are also an economic issue,” McGill Johnson said. “And these things should not be separated, right? Your ability to decide if and how you become a parent has many factors including economic factors. And so I do believe that making the connection between the impact of a national abortion ban, the impact of what we are already seeing in states with bans where OB-GYN providers are no longer matching into those states because they fear criminalization and how that impacts the economy.”
Anna Johnson, Washington AP bureau chief, says the news organization will promote more transparency on election night, especially in key swing states like Wisconsin as it calls key races.
“It’s our decision team officially in charge of calling these races,” Johnson told “UpFront.” “Certainly, with Wisconsin being such a battleground state, such a prominent part of this election this year, our decision team, our core group of people, they will be making the decisions on when we’re ready to call the races in presidential and Senate. And I should say one thing just to stress here is that this is not, we don’t make projections. It’s not like we think this is going to happen. This is all based on the vote count, the facts, and the analysis that comes in. And the only way we declare races, whether it’s a presidential race or a state legislative race, is when we are absolutely certain that there is no way that the trailing candidate can overtake the leading candidates when we’re 100% certain on.”
Johnson said the AP won’t hesitate to call the presidential race in key swing states when the data is in, despite the heightened scrutiny targeting the election process from Republicans since 2020.
“It’s really important for us to do this,” Johnson said. “As you know, accuracy is the gold standard. I mean, 100% accuracy, and that is obviously the number one thing. But we also recognize that we want to be as fast as we can. So once we’re ready, we’re never going to hold back to call that race. We are going to call that race because we know that in the absence of that, that’s sort of when misinformation flourishes. That’s when people are wondering why — why isn’t this happening? And we want to make sure, like once we are ready, we are ready, and we’re going to call that race.”
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