U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who has not served in the U.S. military, appeared on Newsmax where show host Carl Higbie (a former Navy SEAL) said he noticed that “Democrats seem to be recruiting more veterans to run as Democrats.”
Higbie noted that in 2016, only six veterans ran as Democrats. In 2024, 56 veterans ran as Democrats.
Johnson responded: “Democrats realized that their policies are not popular with the American people, so they can’t really run on what they really want to do to America. So they’ve got to pull the wool over the eyes of the American public and recruiting veterans who apparently have their worldview. And my guess is there aren’t that many veterans that do. It’s basically recruiting wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
On Newsmax, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) calls Democrat veterans "wolves in sheep's clothing."
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) March 9, 2026
"[Democrats] got to pull the wool over the eyes of the American public, and recruiting veterans who apparently have their world view — and my guess is there aren't that many veterans… pic.twitter.com/Emji9ddzS1
Note: In January 2025, when the 119th Congress was sworn in, 100 veterans were among its 535 members in the House and Senate. Of the 100, nearly three-quarters were Republicans. (There were approximately 82 veterans in the 118th Congress.)
Johnson often criticizes Democrats: Last week (again on Newsmax) he criticized Democrats for not supporting Trump’s decision to launch military strikes against Iran without congressional approval. Johnson said: “[Democrats are] just a bunch of hypocrites and their only ideology right now is, if Trump’s for it, they’re going to be against it.”
On Thursday, the House narrowly voted (212-210) to reject a resolution that would have restricted the President’s war in Iran. One of the four Democrats who voted with Republicans against the resolution was Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), a Marine Corps veteran who served in the war in Afghanistan and the Second Gulf War.
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