Conservatives Call for Changes Following Schimel’s Loss

After a bruising Wisconsin Supreme Court defeat, Wisconsin conservatives are searching for answers — and some are pointing fingers.

Social media has been abuzz with rumors of election fraud and calls for Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming to resign in the days following Democrats’ overwhelming victory on April 1.Those election fraud conspiracy theories were smacked down by conservative WISN radio host Dan O’Donnell.

“Stop. You sound stupid,” an exasperated O’Donnell said on his show two days after the election.

But while O’Donnell had little patience for people crowing about election fraud, he told listeners there was room to criticize the state Republican Party’s efforts.

The officially nonpartisan race between conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel and liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford captured the nation’s attention and drew more than $100 million in campaign spending.

Billionaire Elon Musk threw himself into the center of the race he said would “affect the entire destiny of humanity.” Musk held a rally where he personally handed out $1 million dollar checks to two people he said were randomly chosen from those who signed his petition about “activist” judges. He and his affiliated political action committees spent more than $20 million to promote Schimel.

But on election night, Crawford cruised to an easy victory, beating Schimel by 10 points. Preliminary results show the vote shifted to the left in all 72 Wisconsin counties when compared to the 2024 presidential election.

On Thursday, O’Donnell took to the airwaves and pushed back against online “conspiracy theories” of victory being stolen from Schimel through “a massive algorithm” manufacturing votes for Crawford.

“You tell me exactly how 634,000 Donald Trump votes didn’t go to Brad Schimel. And then we can start talking about fraud,” O’Donnell told his listeners.

O’Donnell said it was a matter of simple math. Schimel got around 62 percent of the vote Trump did in November when he narrowly won the state, he said, and Crawford got closer to 77 percent.

“What is happening, though, is we had a conservative movement that did not work nearly as hard as it should have, and a Republican Party of Wisconsin that did not seem to be doing much of anything,” O’Donnell said.

He said he has data showing the Republican Party of Wisconsin knocked on “40,872 doors across the entire state of Wisconsin” ahead of April 1 and roughly half of those came from a group called the Young Republicans.

Soon after O’Donnell’s claims about the state party aired, Milwaukee County Republican Party Chair Hilario Deleon commented on the social media platform X.

“This is unacceptable…accountability must come at all levels at the State Party and it must be swift and thorough, we owe that to the Members of the Party,” Deleon said.

That was followed by several replies calling for Schimming, state GOP chair, to resign.

A spokesperson with the state party did not respond to a request for comment on O’Donnell’s claims or on calls for Schimming’s resignation.

Schimel loss highlights tensions among Wisconsin conservatives

Deleon’s comments are notable in light of what Schimel described during the campaign as a “turf war” playing out among Republicans in Wisconsin, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

In 2024, Deleon was a “Ballot Chase Manager” for conservative group Turning Point Action, which is headed by conservative firebrand and Trump ally Charlie Kirk. Deleon did not respond to a request for comment on his post.

Deleon’s county GOP vice-chair, Brett Galaszewski, lists himself as a “National Enterprise Director” of Turning Point. During a 2023 event, Galaszewski talked openly about conservatives needing to take over the Republican Party infrastructure.

“You’re like, ‘Hey, aren’t you part of the party?’ Yes, I am,” Galaszewski said. “But the only reason I joined the party, and the hell hole that it can be sometimes, is because I want to change it. That’s the future of the party.”

On Friday night, Galaszewski was elected to the GOP’s state executive committee as a vice-chair representing southeastern Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District. Under the party’s constitution, congressional district chairs and vice-chairs make up a majority of the state executive committee charged with electing the state chair and drafting party bylaws.

In a social media post, Galaszewski said he’s excited to integrate new concepts to help the party “compete with the leftist machine.”

“Time for change,” Galaszewski said. “I’m dialed in!”

Another new voting member on the GOP executive committee from northeastern Wisconsin was more explicit with his thoughts about the party’s leadership. In a Facebook post the day after Crawford’s win, GOP 8th Congressional District chair Ken Sikora highlighted Republican U.S. House victories in Florida on April 1.

“Hey Brian Schimming this is what leadership does,” Sikora said. “Maybe consider resigning so we can find some.” Sikora’s ascension to the GOP’s 8th district leadership position was supported by Turning Point members and prefaced by party infighting, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Some Republicans within the district raised concerns about Sikora’s 2019 conviction on misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct charges with domestic abuse modifiers. There were accusations of bullying and Sikora filed a lawsuit against incumbent 8th district chair Stephanie Soucek to force party delegates from Oconto and Waupaca counties to be recognized during the caucus.

Not ‘MAGA enough’

Sawyer County Republican Party Chair John Righeimer defended Schimming and the state GOP in an interview with WPR. He said Republican turnout in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which are led by Turning Point employees, wasn’t anything to brag about on April 1.

“If you take that type of view, ‘Well, Brian Schimming must go and RPW is at fault,’ well, then I think you also have to say, ‘Well, OK. If we’re going by that formula, what did Milwaukee County do or not do? What did Dane County do or not do?’”

Unofficial results show Schimel got around 25 percent of the overall vote in Milwaukee County and around 18 percent of the vote in Dane County. Righeimer said with margins like that, it’s hard for Republicans to make up the difference in other regions.

Schimel’s loss was the result of getting “double-whammied,” Righeimer said, because voters he deems “Trump-only” stayed home, while Democrats who were angry with Trump’s first months in office turned out.

“These people that vote Trump-only aren’t necessarily Republicans,” Righeimer said. “They don’t necessarily like Republicans. They’re not going to vote Republican. They vote for Donald Trump. They like Donald Trump. They have fun with it. They like the chaos. They like the entertainment.”

He pointed to Trump’s 0.8 percent margin of victory in Wisconsin against former Vice President Kamala Harris in November as evidence the president himself “barely wins with Trump-only” votes.

Righeimer said a main source of the tension within Wisconsin’s conservative movement is that “young kids that are hardcore MAGA” argue Republicans like him aren’t “MAGA enough.” He said he’s “not a MAGA lover,” but he’s voted for Trump three times. Righeimer said in order for Republicans to start winning statewide races in Wisconsin — without Trump and his unique ability to attract low-propensity voters on the ballot — the GOP needs more moderate Republicans for statewide races.

“But you know, Trump is the president and, I guess, the leader of the Republican Party. It’s hard to go against that, even though I think that’s the winning formula,” Righeimer said. “Maybe we just have to go through these tough times of looking more like Minnesota and Illinois for a bit, and hopefully recover at the end, on the other side, when there’s a time to regroup.”

‘We need a full, top-to-bottom review of our entire operation’

Longtime GOP consultant Bill McCoshen said the Republicans’ Supreme Court loss is cause for introspection. He said he’s worked with Schimming for a long time and considers him a friend. But he said the Republican Party “is going to have to decide how they want to handle” the loss.

“We need a full top-to-bottom review of our entire operation,” McCoshen said. “It’s clear our grassroots operation is not as good as the Democrats’, and we need to do a better job of candidate recruitment. And those things generally do come down to the party apparatus. So, I’m not going to criticize Brian. He works very, very hard. We’ll see what the party decides to do over the next couple of months.”

He said having turnout operations run by the state party, Turning Point and Musk’s group America PAC during Schimel’s campaign “can lead to a less efficient operation.”

He said the three groups were not necessarily working together using the same voter data.

“There’s got to be a better job done to make sure that we’ve got the best [voter] list possible heading into 2026 if we want to compete with Gov. Tony Evers, if he runs for a third term,” McCoshen said.

Crawford’s resounding win has left Democrats optimistic about a “blue wave” in next year’s midterm election. But McCoshen said Tuesday’s results don’t mean “that’s what will happen in a fall election where there are more voters.”

“So, Republicans have time to figure this out and get their act together,” McCoshen said.

Listen to the WPR report

Conservatives look for answers, point blame following spring election losses was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.