Bucking the GOP establishment: Northwestern Wis. Republicans challenging their own party’s incumbents

A trio of Northwestern Wisconsin Republicans are challenging incumbents within their own party, and Aug. 13 will see if they prevail in upending the GOP status quo after the ballots are counted.

Jim Swenson, Scott Harbridge and Jay Calhoun sat down on Wednesday in Anderson Park in Barron to discuss their reasons behind throwing their hats in the ring in challenge to either GOP incumbents or party-endorsed candidates.

The three men cited leadership in Madison that does not represent the people and retaliates against legislators who don’t toe the line among many reasons.

“The problem that we have down in Madison is the establishment supports the establishment and they don’t care about the people — and the people need representation and that’s what we plan on doing,” said Harbridge, a Radisson Republican who is running against GOP incumbent Chanz Green of Mason to represent the 74th District.

Swenson, the former chair of the Republican Party of Barron County, seeks to unseat two-term incumbent Dave Armstrong of Rice Lake in the 67th District.

The Republican from Barron said one of his reasons for running is the increase in spending to $100 billion in the 2023-25 budget and he believes it’s what government at all levels — federal, state, county and municipal — has learned to do.

“When do we stop the ball from rolling?” Swenson asked.

Luck resident Calhoun is one of three GOP candidates hoping to succeed Republican Gae Magnafaci, who is not seeking reelection to the 75th District. His competitor Duke Tucker has received the endorsement of the outgoing Assemblywoman although officially the county party is remaining neutral.

Calhoun and Swenson both said leadership decides who will stand as candidates and can throw speed bumps in the campaign road for the others.

For example, Tucker was invited to Madison for candidate training, Calhoun said, but neither he nor a third GOP candidate, Neil Kline, was included, and Harbridge heard that another party member in his district was told not to put his name on the parade float or hand out his campaign literature.

“They don’t support me at all,” Harbridge said. “When I go to meetings, they try to silence me.”

And when Romaine Robert Quinn of Cameron decided to quit the Assembly in 2020, Armstrong was named the nominee after a meeting between him, Quinn and Robin Vos, the Assembly leader, in Madison without consulting Barron County Republican Party, according to Swenson.

Legislators have to “go along to get along,” the trio said, and if they don’t they face retaliation.

Swenson, who along with the other two candidates are pro-Trump, cited Vos’ actions to remove the staff of Rep. Timothy Ramthun after he criticized the speaker for not doing more to overturn Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election and another to unseat Rep. Janel Brandtjen as chair of the Campaigns and Elections Committee for the same reason.

If anyone stands up with an idea in Madison and doesn’t “go along to get along, they get campaign funding removed, they lose their staff,” Swenson said.

As a point of note, Swenson was ousted as chair of the Republican Party of Barron County when parent organization Republican Party of Wisconsin revoked its charter in January. He is no longer a member.

A Constitutional Committee of the Republican Party of Wisconsin cited, among other findings, that Swenson did not recognize members at meetings who did not agree with his views or denigrated those who views diverged from his, complaints were filed regarding the process of filling vacancies and electing members to the Executive Committee, and the members of the Executive Committee were required to sign a document agreeing not to discuss its proceedings with general membership or others.

It also said that Quinn and Randy Cook were expelled from the Executive Committee without the action being referred to general membership for approval, and that Swenson removed Quinn, a state Senator, as a delegate over his objections.

From his point of view, Swenson said they did nothing wrong and lived by the letter of the constitution, and the Republican Party of Wisconsin was brought in to circumvent that constitution.

The three nonestablishment candidates are not part of an organized effort to oust incumbents or party-backed candidates, but they do support each others’ efforts as they share the same ideals.

Calhoun said they have been demonized and some are actually calling them the “We the People” people, which is better than the previous “useful idiots.” But they want to represent the people — as government was designed to do, they assert.

“We’ve gotten so far from that,” Calhoun said. “It’s completely turned on its head where the leadership in Madison think that they’re our rulers. They think they rule over you.”

But state government should work to protect state citizens from the federal government, and Madison leadership has gotten too far out of control, in their opinion.

It’s also “disheartening” to see society’s lack of involvement in issues and the loss of civic responsibility education. People don’t understand the rules of the game, they said.

“There’s much more to saving our country than just casting a vote,” said Swenson, noting that people need to learn their civic responsibility so they and their descendants can live the American dream. “Otherwise we’re going to lose our country.”