Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson traveled to Washington, D.C., this week hoping to finally sit down with Vice President JD Vance, but he says the meeting never materialized. Johnson had requested a face-to-face meeting and was still waiting for a reply during his visit.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Vance did not respond to Johnson's multiple requests to meet during the mayor's visit. Johnson said he had not received a response to his requests during the visit. The dispute traces back to July, when Vance told reporters during a Milwaukee stop, “I'll sit down and meet with him,” according to the same report.
An Offer Made, Then Left Unanswered
Johnson said he would be in Washington during the week of Sept. 21 and looked forward to speaking with Vance directly about the standoff. The meeting did not take place during his visit, per the Journal Sentinel's account.
The roots of the disagreement go back to Vance's July visit to Milwaukee, when he first floated the idea of a sit-down. In a letter at the time, Johnson invited Vance to come see the city's election operation for himself, writing that he wanted the vice president “to see our election operation, to talk to officials who conduct our elections and scrutinize, firsthand, the extensive security and accuracy in place,” according to Wisconsin Public Radio. That meeting never happened during Vance's July trip, either.
The FBI Probe at the Center of It All
At issue is a federal investigation into Milwaukee's handling of nearly 180,000 absentee ballots cast during the 2020 presidential election, a detail reported by WISN. The FBI opened its inquiry into Wisconsin's 2020 election earlier this year as the Trump administration pushed to revisit results in battleground states, the Journal Sentinel reported. Federal agents have interviewed current and former Milwaukee election officials as part of that work.
Johnson has criticized those interviews, accusing federal agents of intimidating election workers. He has repeatedly questioned what evidence prompted the investigation in the first place. The FBI's inquiry remains in a preliminary phase, and no ballots have been seized in Wisconsin, per a Yahoo News account of the dispute.
Milwaukee's Election Administration
Milwaukee election officials have taken mistakes seriously. In Wisconsin's 2020 race, Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump, and the result was confirmed through multiple reputable reviews.
A Broader Fight Over Voting Access
The clash over the FBI probe has unfolded alongside a wider debate over voting rules in Wisconsin. Johnson's office has said additional voting requirements, such as those proposed under the SAVE Act, would make it harder for Wisconsin residents to vote, according to the Marquette Wire. It is unclear whether Vance's office has responded to Johnson's letters, his meeting request or his latest remarks from Washington. For now, Johnson says he is still waiting for the vice president to keep his word.
