Rematch pits 2 Republicans, one backed by Trump, in new district

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Two Republicans — one backed by Donald Trump, the opposite a state senator who determined to run for Meeting after redistricting paired him with one other GOP incumbent — sq. off in a rematch within the twenty fourth Meeting District major on Aug. 13.

Incumbent Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, and state Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, final yr each ran for the eighth Senate District, the place Knodl handily received 57% of the Republican major vote regardless of Trump endorsing Brandtjen.

Knodl opted to not run for the Senate seat he received in a particular election final spring after new legislative maps drew him into the district with Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, who has held workplace within the twentieth Senate District since 2015. Knodl stated the twenty fourth Meeting District wants “a conservative who’s revered by his colleagues.” He beforehand represented the district within the Meeting from 2009 to 2023. 

Each Knodl and Brandtjen didn’t reply to Wisconsin Watch’s request for an interview. 

The secure Republican district covers elements of Washington and Waukesha counties. It consists of the villages of Menomonee Falls and Lannon, in addition to half the village of Germantown. Whoever wins the Republican major will face Democrat William Walter on Nov. 5.

Brandtjen, who has represented the twenty second Meeting District since 2015, introduced her determination to run once more within the new twenty fourth earlier this yr after Waukesha County District Legal professional Susan Opper determined to not file expenses beneficial by the Wisconsin Ethics Fee in opposition to her for an alleged plot to skirt marketing campaign finance legal guidelines.

The ethics fee beneficial felony expenses in opposition to Brandtjen, Adam Steen’s marketing campaign, county GOP officers and Trump’s Save America fundraising committee relating to an effort to oust Meeting Speaker Robin Vos and illegally steer cash to Steen, his unsuccessful GOP major challenger in 2022. 

That yr, Brandtjen’s colleagues voted to ban her from attending Meeting Republican closed caucus conferences after dropping belief in her. 

This yr, Trump has backed U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde and eighth Congressional District candidate Tony Wied, however Brandtjen stays the one candidate he has endorsed for the state Legislature, in keeping with Ballotpedia. 

Brandtjen received Trump’s favor when she promoted conspiracy theories in regards to the 2020 election and referred to as for President Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin to be overturned. She and Trump tried to strain Vos to take unlawful steps to throw out the election outcomes. 

Vos eliminated Brandtjen from her place as chair of the Meeting Committee on Campaigns and Elections for utilizing the function to advertise different election deniers and help unlawful efforts to decertify the election. Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, changed her and has since pushed for extra bipartisan election reforms.

However after the Meeting handed a bipartisan proposal to deal with absentee poll processing and shore up the system for monitoring adjudicated incompetent voters, Knodl, who chairs the Senate Elections Committee, stalled the invoice. 

Each Knodl and Brandtjen joined different lawmakers in signing a 2021 letter asking former Vice President Mike Pence to delay certifying the 2020 election outcomes. 

Brandtjen has spoken in favor of laws that will ban transgender ladies from taking part in ladies’s sports activities in colleges. She additionally led makes an attempt to question Wisconsin Elections Fee Administrator Megan Wolfe, drawing criticism from a lot of her Republican colleagues. 

In 2023, Brandtjen sponsored unsuccessful laws that will have given native governments and municipalities larger energy to control the set up of wind and power methods. 

Final yr, Knodl authored laws signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers making a driver’s schooling grant program for college students who qualify free of charge or reduced-price lunch in colleges. One other bipartisan invoice he wrote requires the closure of marketing campaign finance accounts belonging to candidates which were discovered responsible of marketing campaign finance or election fraud legal guidelines.

Knodl was a legislative chief within the effort to repeal the private property tax in Wisconsin. He additionally co-sponsored an unsuccessful 14-week abortion ban, in addition to laws that will have required citizenship info on state drivers’ licenses — what he stated was an try to make sure non-citizens don’t vote.

In line with most up-to-date marketing campaign finance stories, Knodl has raised $71,403 this yr, excess of Brandtjen with $16,439.