Wisconsin Republicans Have Plan to Win in November
Top officials outlined their game plan; it's about key issues and striking first.
Sen. Patrick Testin at VCP Milwaukee Groundbreaking. Photo taken Oct. 13, 2025 by Jeramey Jannene.
Republican legislators and state party leaders briefed GOP convention delegates on strategies they plan to use to win in the Nov. 4 elections, despite high gas prices, the unresolved war with Iran and President Donald Trump‘s low standing in state and national polls.
Their statements are available from the gavel-to-gavel convention coverage of WisconsinEye, the nonprofit public service network that may soon shut down because of a lack of funding.
“There are a lot of things we can’t control, and there’s a lot of things we can control,” state Sen. Pat Testin, chair of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, told attendees of the Republican Party convention on May 16. “We can create as much insulation [from national issues] for our candidates as possible.”
Republicans had an 18-15 margin of control in the Senate last session. But, Testin said, which party controls the Senate in the 2027-2028 session will be decided by elections in four regions — southwest Wisconsin, the Racine and Eau Claire areas, and the Milwaukee suburbs. There is no incumbent in two of those four districts; four other incumbent Republicans are retiring.
Six retirements mean Senate Republicans can “reshape and rebrand” themselves, Testin said.
Republican candidates can’t compete with Democrats “dollar for dollar” because of rich donors to that party from residents of Illinois, California, New York, and Oregon, Testin said.
But, Testin said, campaign donations Senate Republicans get will go for “laser-guided bunker-buster bombs to get our message through and highlight how radical Democrats are.”
This year, Testin said Republicans will be “up on the air sooner” with ads and campaign messages that “define the Democrats before they have the opportunity to define us.” Republicans will remind voters that all 15 Senate Democrats voted against a $1.8 billion tax cut and school-aid package, Testin added. (He did not mention the three Republican lawmakers who helped kill the bill in the Senate.)
Another campaign message is “don’t Minnesota our Wisconsin,” Testin said. “The more that we can highlight that, we’re going to be victorious.”
Testin is overseeing Republican campaigns because Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu is retiring. If Republicans keep their majority, Testin would be a candidate for majority leader.
Rep. Tony Kurtz, who represented the Assembly’s 54-member Republican majority at the convention, conceded that “affordability” is a major campaign issue. “Let’s not sugarcoat that.”
Kurtz also said Republican candidates will remind voters that Democrats killed the tax cut and school aid package. “We are collecting too much money in this state. We are trying to give some of that money back.”
Kurtz said another winning issue for Republicans will be utility rates rising because of solar and other clean-energy projects and a new sales tax exemption on utility bills. “We do need to focus on that.”
Republican candidates also want to abolish taxes on tips and overtime pay, Kurtz said.
Overall, Kurtz said, “These are small gestures, but they do make a difference. These are the things we need to talk about when we do doors.”
Terry Dittrich, the Waukesha County party chairman who also serves on the Republican National Committee (RNC), said Wisconsin’s Nov. 4 elections are a priority for President Trump, who remembers that carrying the state in 2024 made him president.
Dittrich said the RNC will be sending 11 “directors” to work on Wisconsin elections, which include the campaign of Congressman Tom Tiffany, the party’s endorsed candidate for governor.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and state party Chairman Brian Schimming noted that conservatives lost their third straight election for a state Supreme Court seat in the April election, giving liberals a 5-2 majority on the court.
Conservative Judge Maria Lazar lost in April because of the “pitiful” turnout by voters who had supported Trump, Johnson said.
He said Wisconsin Republicans must not engage in a “circular firing squad” — something the party has been “very good at.” Johnson said, “If we’re going to win, we’ve got to unify…now.”
“April is not November,” said Schimming, who promised that the state party will be sending “dozens” of staffers to help local Republicans on campaigns.
Unlike four years ago, Schimming said, “This convention is unified behind one person [for governor] — Tom Tiffany. This convention is unified behind attorney general candidate Eric Toney,” the Fond du Lac County district attorney.
When President Trump makes pre-election stops in Wisconsin, Schimming said, “I’ll be waiting for him on the runway. How many times has Donald Trump been counted out?”
Responding to the GOP convention, Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker said, “The GOP is a sinking ship, and Tom Tiffany and every Republican on the ballot this November are going to go down with it. Democrats have proven we know how to win, and Wisconsin voters are going to finish the job by sweeping Republicans out of state government and breaking the GOP’s House majority.”
Democrats hold their state convention June 13-14 in Madison.
Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
The State of Politics
-
Why Legislature Killed Tax Cut, School Aid Plan
May 18th, 2026 by Steven Walters
-
Wisconsin Plays Role in National Redistricting Battle
May 11th, 2026 by Steven Walters
-
Was Dan Bice Wisconsin’s Most Important Journalist?
May 4th, 2026 by Steven Walters
This is what it sounds like when you’re a losing party that is completely up your own backside and have no clue about how everyday voters love. Minnesota has higher wages, funded schools, lower property taxes, and Medicaid expansion so fewer people rely on the Obamacare exchanges that GOPs are making unaffordable.
I can’t figure out why the WisGOPs max out at 50.5% statewide and usually end up 5-10 points lower than that, can you?
Insulating our candidates from national issues.
Don’t Minnesota our Wisconsin.
April is not November.
I wonder if reTrumplicans actually listen to themselves when spouting this BS. As long as Frump occupies the White House every election is going to have his big, fat, orange shadow hanging over it because of all he has taken away, and the misery he has caused with his thoughtless, baseless, and Quixotic choices with tariffs, the war in Iran, and the consequences of both. Those are just two of dozens of issues this administration has worked hard to destroy in order to remake our country into the Project 2025 hellhole controlled by a wannabe dictator.
Also, RELEASE ALL OF THE REMAINING EPSTEIN FILES NOW.
So far they are winning. Tiffany has the airwaves to himself. He will be the leading candidate after the primaries and whoever wins for the Dems will have to play catch up.
KWH – Tom Tiffany is saying that it’s the fault of workers if they get laid off due to AI and that Jan 6 thugs should get a piece of Trump’s slush fund.
Oh and he’s still clinging to election denial when 75% of Wisconsinites hate that BS, and firmly opposed a deal that 75% of Wisconsinites liked on the surface…because it didn’t cut schools enough.
No ads are going to paper over that guys dimwittedness.
So from where comes this idea that Wisconsinites are so distainful of Minnesota? Other than on the football field, I’ve never heard of this before. I guess when your main platform is trashing transgender people you have to make up some new slogans.
And by the way, for what reason should folks whose income comes from overtime or tips deserve a tax break that no one else would get? Should that motivate me to vote for Tom Tiffany?
KWH:
Sarah Rodriguez is on the air already.
Tommy T showing himself in a milking barn, showing his mom quilting, professing his love of Old Fashioneds. and having a 20-year streak of seeing The Nutcracker ain’t gonna get my vote, especially since he is endorsed by our felon president and still can’t bring himself to declare that Biden won the election in 2020. A candidate that is living an alternate reality for the benefit of a man-child’s tender ego is not worthy of the governor’s chair.