Wisconsin primary voters oust more than a half-dozen legislators, setting stage for Dem push in fall

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Legislature’s loudest election conspiracy theorist lost her job along with a handful of other incumbent lawmakers in Tuesday’s primary, solidifying the field of contenders as Democrats prepare to mount a major push to retake control of the Assembly for the first time in almost 15 years.

The liberal-controlled state Supreme Court in February adopted new legislative district boundaries that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers drew up. The new maps pitted several legislative incumbents against each other. Some chose to retire rather than face a friend in the primary. Others didn’t and it cost them.

In all, seven incumbent legislators lost in the primaries, including Republican Reps. Janel Brandtjen, Peter Schmidt, Michael Schraa and Donna Rozar and Democratic Reps. LaKeisha Myers, Samba Baldeh and Jimmy Anderson.

Perhaps the most notable of the ousted incumbents is Brandtjen, who had represented Milwaukee’s northwestern suburbs in the Assembly since 2014.

She refused to accept that President Joe Biden won Wisconsin in 2020 and called for firing Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. She also accused Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of not doing enough to investigate the election results and backed two failed recall efforts against him. While she earned President Donald Trump’s endorsement, Vos barred her from GOP caucuses.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Contenders in key Wisconsin Senate race come out swinging after