Wisconsin’s Presidential Preference Selection Committee approved a primary ballot that includes Republican Donald Trump, but not Dem Dean Phillips.
Phillips, a Minnesota congressman, and Marianne Williamson, a self-help author, will both be on the ballot for the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina. But state Dem Chair Ben Wikler only proposed President Joe Biden’s name for his party’s primary during today’s committee meeting.
Four years ago, Republicans didn’t include former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld or former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, of Illinois, on the GOP ballot alongside Trump, who was the incumbent at the time.
Wikler noted in a statement that the state party has endorsed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for reelection.
“This election represents an existential choice between President Biden’s record of results and the chaos and extremism of the MAGA agenda,” Wikler said.
State law gives the Presidential Preference Selection Committee the sole power to place candidates on the primary ballot for parties that received at least 10% of the vote in the most recent guv election. Only the Dem and Republican parties met that mark this year.
The statutes also call for the committee to determine which candidates are generally advocated or recognized by the news media. The committee, made up of Dem and GOP appointees, approved without discussion the lists of candidates submitted by the state party chairs during the meeting.
State GOP Executive Director Mark Jefferson knocked Dems for only putting Biden on the ballot.
“Wisconsin Democrats’ clearing the ballot of any candidate other than Joe Biden is a glaring sign of the President’s poor standing with voters. Any alternative for Democrats would likely gain significant support and embarrass the President,” Jefferson said.
If Phillips or Williamson want to appear on the April 2 ballot, they now must collect at least 8,000 signatures from Wisconsinites by Jan. 30. At least 1,000 and no more than 1,500 signatures would have to come from qualified electors in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.
Phillips’ campaign didn’t immediately respond to a phone message and email sent to the contact numbers on his website.
The Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state have found Trump shouldn’t be allowed on those states’ primary ballots, finding he violated the 14th Amendment, which bars those who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from serving as president.
But there was no discussion of those issues this morning as state GOP Chair Brian Schimming proposed a slate of six Republicans for the April 2 ballot: Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy and Trump.
The committee unanimously approved both submissions without debate, and anyone on the list who doesn’t want to appear on the ballot has a Jan. 30 deadline to have their name withdrawn.
Kirk Bangstad, the owner of Minocqua Brewing Co., vowed late last month to file a lawsuit seeking to prevent Trump from appearing on the Wisconsin ballot. He initially filed a complaint with the Elections Commission, which quickly rejected it. Bangstad wrote in a short email to WisPolitics today that he expects to file the suit Friday or Monday.
https://www.wispolitics.com/2024/trump-to-be-on-wisconsin-presidential-primary-ballot-biden-only-dem/
