A former U.S. Capitol Police officer who defended the building during the January 6, 2021, attack brought his campaign for political accountability to Milwaukee, criticizing Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany's past statements questioning the 2020 election. Tiffany also faces scrutiny over recent remarks suggesting federal officials would come to Wisconsin for next month's election.
Dunn criticized Tiffany over his election-related remarks, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dunn has testified before Congress about his experience fighting rioters and has said attackers hurled racial slurs at him. He has called for accountability from those he believes responsible for the Capitol violence; after Milwaukee, he planned stops in Green Bay and Eau Claire.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson introduced Dunn at the rally, telling attendees that a person who denies an election outcome is unfit for office. Organizers estimated about 100 people registered for the event, which included participation from Souls to the Polls and SEIU Wisconsin.
Tiffany's 2020 Election Record Under Fire
Tiffany voted to reject Joe Biden's presidential victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, 2021, and told the Journal Sentinel at the time that he would have voted to overturn Biden's Wisconsin win had it come to a vote, citing alleged improprieties in how the 2020 election was conducted during the pandemic. He also signed a brief supporting Texas legal efforts to overturn the 2020 results. More recently, Tiffany has acknowledged that Biden won the 2020 election, according to Wisconsin Watch, while saying he welcomes law enforcement investigations into that race and, in May, stating that an ongoing FBI probe into the 2020 election should continue.
Dunn also questioned why state elections would be federalized at all, given Republican and conservative support for state authority over such matters. That question sits at the center of a broader controversy Tiffany ignited in September, when, speaking to supporters at the Pioneer Keg in Theresa in Dodge County, he said Department of Justice officials would be deployed to Wisconsin for the November election and called the move good news for election integrity, as Wausau Pilot & Review reported.
Campaign Says Wisconsin Deployment Is Reasonable to Expect
After questions about the remarks, a Tiffany campaign spokesperson pointed to a report citing roughly 1,000 federal election monitors, which gave no Wisconsin-specific estimate, according to GazetteXtra. The Tiffany campaign has also pointed to federal election monitors in Wisconsin in previous elections, arguing a similar deployment in 2026 would be reasonable to expect. The Justice Department plans a nationwide deployment of election monitors. Monitors must check in like regular observers.
FBI Director Kash Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 15 that election crime coordinators are stationed across all 56 FBI field offices to handle election-interference allegations, while saying the bureau would follow federal laws governing polling places, according to Citizen Portal. Senators pressed Patel on whether federal agents would be dispatched near voting locations. Federal law is explicit on the limits: under 18 U.S.C. § 592, it is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison for any civil or military officer of the United States to order or keep armed federal personnel or troops at a polling place during an election, unless necessary to repel armed enemies, per the Legal Information Institute.
State Officials Move to Set Ground Rules
The Wisconsin Elections Commission plans to approve or revise a memo on October 15 advising local clerks on law enforcement at polling places.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said Tuesday that state and federal laws prohibit voter intimidation and armed federal officers at polling locations, noting that peaceful observers from government agencies are a routine feature of battleground state elections, according to the Wisconsin Radio Network. She emphasized that municipal election clerks across the state are trained on observer guidelines.
A Governor's Race Shaped by Election Fights
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tiffany is running in November's race. The federal-monitoring dispute has become one of the defining flashpoints of that race.
Dunn has also visited Wisconsin to criticize President Donald Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 rioters. Dunn announced a 2024 congressional run.
