The Republican Party is in crisis. At both the national and state levels, infighting within GOP ranks threatens to tear the party at the seams. In Wisconsin, fealty to former President Donald Trump and his attempts to decertify the state’s 2020 presidential election results have become litmus tests among state Republicans.
Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’s recent comments on the indefinite suspension of impeachment proceedings against Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top election official, publicly rebuffed pressure from Trump over social media. This move is emblematic of Vos’s efforts at distancing himself from the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
Last December, Congress subpoenaed Vos to testify before the U.S. House’s January 6th committee. Vos revealed that Trump, in a not-so-subtle manner, attempted to use Vos to overturn election results in Wisconsin. Trump was unsuccessful in persuading Vos, yet fellow Wisconsin Republicans entertain the Trump agenda much more than Vos himself.
State Representative Janel Brandtjen continues to support the former president’s baseless claims of a rigged election, directing her criticism towards Vos and his lack of agency in joining other Republicans in impeaching Wisconsin’s nonpartisan election chief.
The Speaker’s decision to withhold support for calls to impeach Wolfe may be borne out of his awareness of shifting political winds — not bravery. According to a recent Marquette University Law School poll, Wisconsin voters are split on choosing between President Biden and Trump, but favor other Republican candidates over Trump.
Vos knows middle-ground voters in Wisconsin are tired of Trump and his obstinate refusal to put the 2020 election behind him. To keep the Republican Party dominant in state government, Vos is continuing to try and divorce Trump’s talking points with GOP lawmakers in Madison — including impeaching the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court further jeopardizes the conservative chokehold on the Legislature. The Court is slated to hear oral arguments later this month on a case that seeks to redraw Wisconsin election maps responsible for the near-total Republican supermajority in both the Senate and Assembly. Liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s decision to not recuse herself from the case does not bode well for Republicans.
In the face of an unfavorable ruling for the state GOP, Vos realizes Republicans must widen their voter base beyond Trump or risk falling out of power. The public break with Trump over impeaching the state’s top election official is just one part of a longer term fight to keep the Republican Party alive in Wisconsin.
Jack Rogers ([email protected]) is a sophomore studying Chinese and economics
