MADISON – Members of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District Caucus declined to endorse a candidate in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany this weekend, even though President Donald Trump has already weighed in on the contest.
In a statement March 16, Matt Rust, the chairman of the Republican Party 7th Congressional District, said that typically, there would be several rounds of elimination votes at the caucus, until the final vote revealed the candidate the group would endorse.
That rule was changed by members, he said, and a motion was made to not endorse a candidate at all. That vote was witnessed by those in attendance, and certified by an parliamentarian from another district. The meeting was March 14 in Neillsville.
“Everything was done according to proper parliamentary procedures,” he said in a statement.
Rust said that the vote took place “without controversy, challenge or objection, and is accepted to be the expressed will of the Delegation in attendance at the Caucus.”
He said that an endorsement vote may have communicated to voters who has the most support amongst the delegates of the caucus, which is why the group may have held off on endorsing any single candidate.
“As far as why they voted not to endorse, I’ve heard several reasons, but personally believe that because there is no clearly identified frontrunner at the moment, a majority of the Delegation didn’t feel comfortable choosing one over another,” he said in an email “And felt that it could be more divisive than unifying for our general membership through the coming months if a single candidate was choses.”
Ben Voekel, spokesman for Republican candidate Paul Wassgren, said the lack of an endorsement is “terrible news” for Republican candidate Michael Alfonso, who was endorsed by Trump in January in his bid to represent the seat once held by his father in law, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
“The race is wide open and Paul Wassgren has the resources and grassroots energy to win and advance the Trump agenda in Congress,” Voekel said in a message to the Journal Sentinel.
So far, Wassgren has contributed $2.5 million of his money to his campaign, more than any other candidate running in the district.
A spokesman for Alfonso did not respond to inquiries about the lack of a vote.
The race in the 7th district is one to succeed Tiffany, who is running for governor and picked up President Donald Trump’s endorsement in that race. Both parties feature contested primaries in the district. Tiffany carried the district by more than 25 percentage points in 2024.
The 7th Congressional District is the state’s largest in terms of land and covers much of central and northern Wisconsin.
There are eight people running for the seat: five Republicans and and three Democrats:
Voters will head to the polls on Aug. 11 for the primary election and Nov. 3 for the general election.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 7th District GOP doesn’t endorse despite Trump-backed candidate
Reporting by Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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