Brewery Owner Sues To Have Trump Tossed From Wisconsin Ballot
Kirk Bangstad's lawsuit comes after Election Commission denied his challenge.
Minocqua Brewery owner and liberal activist Kirk Bangstad addresses reporters after filing a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court seeking to block former President Donald Trump from Wisconsin ballots in 2024. Anya van Wagtendonk/WPR
A northern Wisconsin brewery owner has filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court to block former President Donald Trump from the ballot in Wisconsin, claiming Trump forfeited his right to run again when he attempted to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020.
A copy of the complaint shared by liberal activist and Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad is asking the court to declare that Trump is disqualified from serving as President under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was adopted after the Civil War. That amendment, the suit alleges, bars Trump or anyone else who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding public office.
Bangstad told WPR that Trump “continuously lied” about his loss to Biden nearly four years ago by pushing false claims of election fraud that culminated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Bangstad said hundreds of people have faced charges and convictions since for their actions that day. Two former leaders of the Proud Boys have been sentenced to a combined 32 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes committed during the riot.
“They committed violence against our country because Trump essentially asked them to,” Bangstad said. “There’s no question about that. So to me, it’s worth trying even though it’s an anachronism of an amendment that hasn’t been used since the Civil War.”
The former President is facing criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding related to efforts to disrupt Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory and one count of conspiracy against rights for attempting to oppress people’s right to vote in an election.
The “conspiracy against rights” charge dates back to the Civil War era when Congress passed the Enforcement Act in an attempt to stop members of the Ku Klux Klan from intimidating Black voters in the South.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin’s Presidential Preference Selection Committee, which is run by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, voted unanimously to place seven candidates, including Trump, on the ballot for the state’s presidential primary in April.
Bangstad referred to his lawsuit as a “hail mary” and criticized U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul for not filing charges against Trump.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he opposes blocking Trump from the ballot and said those who think he should be disqualified “can vote against him.”
Bangstad accused Evers of placing his reelection hopes above “what’s good for Wisconsin.”
“I’m still going to support Evers,” Bangstad said. “He’s good. He’s doing the right stuff. He’s on the right side. But I’m disappointed in the timidity that a lot of our top Democrats have in the state of Wisconsin and in the country.”
Bangstad filed a similar complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Dec. 28, which the commission “disposed of without consideration.” In a subsequent statement, Bangstad called that decision “a win for us” because it allowed him to file his lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court.
Bangstad, who also operates a federal super PAC that supports Democratic candidates, is no stranger to the courtroom.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is now controlled by a 4-3 liberal majority, declined to hear a lawsuit he filed seeking to end Wisconsin’s taxpayer-funded voucher school system. That suit was opposed both by Evers and Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester.
In October, an Oneida County jury ordered Bangstad to pay $750,000 for defaming a northern Wisconsin newspaper publisher via social media posts accusing the publisher of engaging in elder abuse and letting his brother bleed to death in a hunting accident.
In a written statement, Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming said, “only someone as disreputable as Kirk Bangstad would try to deny voters the freedom to decide the next president.”
“Like his word, Bangstad’s self-serving lawsuit is not worth the ink and paper on which it is printed,” Schimming said.
Northern Wisconsin brewery owner files lawsuit to block Trump from Wisconsin ballots was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio
Two states have already thrown trump off the ballot under the 14th Amendment, one was from a state Supreme Court decision. Is Schimming calling those states a joke too? As for the governor, if he has no interest in enforcing the Constitution, he is violating his oath that he “will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Wisconsin….” Lawsuits testing laws are filed all the time. To call this a joke and not be interested in meeting an oath of office is extremely disturbing. Does the governor believe he can pick and choose which parts of the Constitution he enforces? If he does he should resign.
Is this the same rich white man trying to keep poor children of color in Milwaukee out of schools of their families choice? Talk about supporting structural racism, this is the very definition
Ryan Cotic, school choice is a fraud and you describe it as a great thing. I call BS. Use your own money to pay for private schools, not mine.
Well said Evers:
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he opposes blocking Trump from the ballot and said those who think he should be disqualified “can vote against him.”
ZeeManMke this is the very attitude that perpetuates why we have structural racism in America. Private Schools should not be only an option for rich white families that keep people out with lessor means. Let the parents decide where they want their children to go. Each family has different needs for their child, thus letting them decide where their own children attend regardless of ability to pay is the most equitable way to tear down a racist system.
All “choice” schools MUST be required to meet the very same standards that the public schools must meet.
In addition, the “choice” schools must be evaluated to make sure they are meeting the law – just as public schools are.
Choice schools are a scam of the most profound order. I know of schools that have NEVER been evaluated by any agency and hire people with no education credits from an accredited college nor have the ‘teachers’ had any prior teaching experience.
You want your kid at one of those scam schools? Or perhaps your tax dollars wasted on one of those schools?
Yeah, I thought not.
Kaygeeret, you seem like a racist by not supporting the ability of children of color to go to the school of their families choice. School choice is the civil rights movement of our time!
Wow, parents can send their kids to any school they want.
I do not want tax money to go to places that don’t seem to value education.
Nor do I want tax money to support places that are not routinely inspected to make sure standards are maintained.
I want children educated not wasting their time.
Neither color nor nationality had anything to do with my remarks. Nor for that matter did sexual orientation.
Go where you want, but make sure it is a credible institution.
Ryan Cotic, I don’t know much about Wisconsin’s school choice program. (I’m in my 70s and have no children, so I haven’t paid attention to the details.)
What schools are included—if parents want out of MPS, how wide are their choices? Can they choose ANY private school or only specific schools that opt in to the program? Are better public schools available? (Can parents from 53206 choose to send their kids to a public school in Mequon or Elm Grove? Would that suburban school be required to accept them?)