Ballot Challenges Fail In 7th District GOP Primary Fight

Seventh district congressional candidate Jesse Ebben speaks during an interview Saturday, May 16, 2026, during the Republican Party of Wisconsin State Convention at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions in Baraboo, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

A Republican running for Wisconsin’s deep red 7th Congressional District has lost her attempt to keep two GOP challengers, including one endorsed by President Donald Trump, off the primary ballot in August.

Jessi Ebben claimed a new state law and an old form invalidated thousands of signatures for fellow Republicans Kevin Hermening and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s son-in-law, Michael Alfonso, but the commission unanimously disagreed.

Ebben’s campaign manager Tom Schroeder filed three challenges with the Wisconsin Elections Commission against the campaigns of Republicans Alfonso and Hermening and Democrat Fred Clark. He argued thousands of their signatures, needed to get on the primary ballot, should be struck because the forms they were written on were outdated. Specifically, Schroeder claimed those forms don’t comply with a new law enacted in April that bars out-of-state residents from collecting signatures.

The Republican primary for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany as he runs for governor stands out because Trump’s endorsement of the 26-year-old Alfonso didn’t clear the field. Aside from the president, Alfonso has also received significant help from a new political action committee running ads on his behalf that received a $1 million donation from the campaign account Duffy used when he represented the district between 2011 and 2019.

During a Republican primary debate in May, which Alfonso skipped, Ebben and Hermening criticized Alfonso’s connections while also pledging their loyalty to Trump.

In order to appear on the 7th Congressional District primary ballot, candidates needed to collect at least 1,000 valid signatures. A memo from Elections Commission staff show Ebben’s campaign only challenged 24 of Clark’s signatures, which isn’t enough to put him below the threshold. Ebben challenged 954 signatures collected by Hermening and all 1,482 signatures collected by Alfonso.

Elections Commission staff said Ebben’s campaign didn’t show any evidence suggesting individuals gathering signatures for the rival campaigns weren’t Wisconsin residents or unable to vote in the state. Also, they noted the commission itself issued guidance to campaigns in April stating signatures collected via the older forms would not automatically strike them.

Before the Elections Commission’s vote, Attorney Matthew Fernholz argued the Alfonso, Hermening and Clark campaigns failed to comply with statute that requires their signature forms to have language certifying that they are qualified electors.

“The question is not about whether the signature gatherers violated by not being eligible to vote in Wisconsin,” said Fernholz. “The issue is whether the candidates’ nomination papers include language that is at odds with the statute.”

Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Don Millis followed up by asking Fernholz if he had any evidence that any signature collectors for the campaigns weren’t eligible to vote in Wisconsin. He said he didn’t.

Hermening, who joined the meeting by phone, told commissioners that his campaign printed its signature forms before the law changed in April. He said he agreed with the commission’s legal opinion that the old forms should still be allowed. And he said they were prepared to submit affidavits from campaign staff who collected signatures attesting to their Wisconsin residency and eligibility to vote in the state, if necessary.

It wasn’t. The commission voted unanimously without discussion to reject the three complaints from Ebben’s campaign and place Alfonso, Hermening and Clark on the August ballot.

In an interview with WPR, Clark said his campaign didn’t bother to respond to the challenge of the 24 signatures Ebben tried to have struck because they would have had more than enough either way. He said it appears the Republicans in the 7th District race “weren’t happy with each other” but “that’s up to the Republican candidates to sort out.”

“I think the people who are going to be voting have a lot bigger concerns than whether the right technical language was on a form,” said Clark. “So I think that the Election Commission ruled in favor of common sense, and I applaud them.”

Jessi Ebben fails to keep GOP, Democratic rivals off 7th Congressional District primary ballot was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.