Trump-backed Republican kicked out of Wis. Assembly caucus [View all]

MADISON, Wis. — The Republican chair of the Wisconsin Assembly elections committee who was backed by former President Donald Trump, embraced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and wanted to decertify President Joe Biden's victory, has been kicked out of the closed GOP caucus because her colleagues don't trust her, according to a letter sent to the lawmaker.

State Rep. Janel Brandtjen's expulsion from the caucus comes after Republicans failed to win a supermajority in the Assembly and Trump's endorsed candidate for governor lost to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the swing state.

The letter, first obtained by WisPolitics.com, was sent to Brandtjen on Friday, just a day after Republicans met in private to vote on their leaders for the upcoming session. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was reelected to his post. Brandtjen endorsed and campaigned for his Republican opponent, Adam Steen, who was also backed by Trump.

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Republicans will hold a 64-35 majority in the next session, just two votes short of a supermajority needed to override vetoes. But all it takes is 50 votes to pass a bill, meaning Republicans could pass legislation even without the support of 14 representatives.

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Brandtjen also co-signed a resolution attempting to decertify Biden's 2020 win, a move that Vos opposed and that attorneys on both sides said was unconstitutional and impossible under state law. Biden's nearly 21,000-vote victory over Trump has withstood multiple reviews, a nonpartisan audit, dozens of lawsuits and two partial recounts. She was one of the biggest advocates for the election investigation led by Michael Gableman, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice hired by Vos to look into the 2020 election. Gableman's investigation was ridiculed by Republicans and Democrats alike, and Vos fired Gableman in August calling him an "embarrassment" to himself and the state.

https://www.startribune.com/trump-backed-republican-kicked-out-of-wis-assembly-caucus/600226578/