Republican Party of Wisconsin Convention Preview: GOP Divided on Endorsements, but United in Their Extremism

MADISON, Wis. — As the Republican Party of Wisconsin gathers this weekend for their 2022 convention, disarray abounds as party insiders wrangle over whether or not they will formally endorse a candidate for governor and power brokers like state Assembly leader Robin Vos face unprecedented public rebellion in their ranks. In fact, the only thing that seems to be unifying Republicans is their extremism.

The following are comments from Mike Browne, Deputy Director of A Better Wisconsin Together:

“Wisconsinites want leaders who look out for us and help our communities thrive.

“But all that state Republicans are offering, besides their infighting and backbiting, is a steady dose of backwards looking extremism. They can’t see beyond their own political ambitions and are more interested in padding the pocketbooks of their billionaire backers and special interests than helping the rest of us.

“We’ve seen Republicans trying to divide our communities over public education, instead of bringing parents and teachers together to improve outcomes for our kids.

“They continue to refuse to ask the wealthiest and big corporations to pay what they owe in taxes, instead proposing to hike what working people pay.

“And whether it’s refusing to move on from the ‘Big Lie’ and the 2020 election they lost, or on abortion rights where they want to take Wisconsin back to 1849 when politicians instead of families made personal reproductive decisions and doctors and nurses could be threatened with criminal prosecution, the extremism of the Wisconsin Republicans takes us in the wrong direction.”

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A Better Wisconsin Together is a state-based research and communications hub for progressives and is an affiliate of ProgressNow.