MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he’s not fighting to persuade Oshkosh Defense to locate 1,000 jobs in Wisconsin rather than South Carolina, providing an opening for his Democratic challengers to accuse the two-term incumbent of being out of touch with the needs of his state.

Johnson told reporters at a news conference Saturday that he was not trying to get Oshkosh Defense to put the jobs in his hometown of Oshkosh as part of a multibillion-dollar contract the company won last year to build new delivery vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service.