MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin's Republican Assembly leader, who will appoint a key member of the state's bipartisan elections commission, said Thursday he was not "ruling anybody in or out" as he looks to quickly fill a vacancy in the battleground state before the next chair of the panel is chosen.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press that he intended to appoint someone before the commission's June 10 meeting where a new chair will be selected. The commission delayed a vote Wednesday after Vos's current appointee, Dean Knudson, abruptly announced he was resigning under pressure from Republicans who are angry because he believes Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden fair and square.
The next chair will hold the position heading into the November election with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson on the ballot. They will also be chair in the leadup to the 2024 presidential election.
Vos told The AP that he had no litmus test for who he selects, and didn't have anyone in mind, but he was leaning toward naming an experienced attorney.
"I'm looking for somebody to be a very well-qualified choice that people will look at and say, 'That's a good decision,'" Vos said.
He said he hopes whoever he names would oppose dissolving the commission, something that every Republican running for governor says they support. Vos said he has been approached by people who are interested in serving, but he declined to name them.
"I'm not ruling anybody in or out," Vos said. "I would like somebody who has a long track record of experience and somebody who, frankly, hasn't bought into hook, line and sinker the decertification argument that is absolutely impossible to achieve."
Vos was booed at last week's Wisconsin Republican Party convention when he said that Biden's victory in Wisconsin could not be decertified. About a third of convention attendees later voted to approve a resolution calling for Vos to resign or be removed from office.
Vos has felt pressure from Trump and the right wing of his party over how he reacted to Biden's win in Wisconsin. Vos hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to investigate the election, a move that has generated bipartisan criticism.
"There is a segment of the party who is obsessed with the past," Vos said. "I want to focus on the party who is focused on the future."
State law requires the next chair to one of two Republican members — either Vos's yet-to-be-named appointee or Bob Spindell. He wants the post, but no Democrat is likely to support him. At least one Democratic vote is needed to elect the chair.
Spindell has taken many positions on the commission that have angered Democrats He was also one of 10 Republicans who cast Electoral College votes for Trump in Wisconsin, even though Trump lost. He and the other fake GOP electors were sued last week.
Knudson said at Wednesday's meeting he was pressured from top Republicans to not run for chair because he wasn't conservative enough. Vos said he did not pressure him. The state party chairman, Paul Farrow, did not immediately return a message Thursday. Knudson also did not return a message.
Despite the findings that the 2020 election was free of widespread fraud, the commission has come under intense criticism from Republicans for a host of decisions it made leading up to the contest, including not sending special voting deputies into nursing homes to assist residents with casting absentee ballots as the COVID-19 pandemic was raging and expanding the use of ballot drop boxes.
