By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Wisconsin Republican U.S. senator for two terms. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two-term Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson announced Sunday that he will run again for office, instead of retiring as previously planned.

Johnson, the former Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held an unpopular hearing to discuss conspiracy theories about the 2020 Presidential election. Johnson wrote in Wall Street Journal that he felt the need to run again as he believes America is “in peril.”

“Much as I’d like to ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should,” Johnson said in his op-ed.

“Countless people have encouraged me to run, saying they rely on me to be their voice, to speak plain and obvious truths other elected leaders shirk from expressing—truths the elite in government, mainstream media and Big Tech don’t want you to hear.”

Johnson was among a handful of U.S. Republican senators who initially had planned https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/joint-statement-from-senators-cruz-johnson-lankford-daines-kennedy-blackburn-braun-senators-elect-lummis-marshall-hagerty-tuberville to reject certifying some of the 2020 presidential election results in key swing states on Jan. 6. 2021.

Wisconsin is closely fought by Republicans and Democrats.

Johnson, however, retreated from the plans and didn’t raise any objections after Jan. 6, when the election certificate was disrupted by Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol.

Since the riots, more than 725 people https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-attorney-general-discuss-investigation-into-capitol-attack-2022-01-05 have been arrested in connection with the deadly attack.

Johnson is now under fire for spreading a false conspiracy theory that claimed leftists acting as Trump supporters participated in the Jan. 6, attack.

He cast doubts about the safety of COVID-19 vaccinations, opposed the creation of a mandatory vaccine, and hosted a panel that featured individuals who claimed to have been affected by the vaccine several months prior.

Johnson announced his tentative retirement https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-johnson/a-day-after-forcing-marathon-bill-reading-johnson-says-preference-to-leave-senate-idUSKCN2AY00Q plans from the U.S. Senate in March 2021, just one day after he single-handedly delayed debate on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill for 11 hours.

However, in his op-ed on Sunday, he said neither he nor his wife had anticipated “the Democrats’ complete takeover of government and the disastrous policies they have already inflicted on America and the world.”