A renewed effort to oust Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming has been abruptly halted, sources confrim to the Heartland Post.
Six members of the 31-member Republican Party Executive Committee petitioned for a special meeting Tuesday to vote on Schimming’s future. But after the Heartland Post reported on that meeting, two of the six members pulled their signatures from the petition, meaning there were not enough members to call a special meeting.
Members had just voted at a regularly scheduled meeting of the committee last month to make the chairman an unpaid position again. Schimming was the first paid chairman in the Party’s history, and the thinking was that if he was no longer paid, he would resign. However, that vote failed, with only 10 of the 31 members supporting it.
Six members had signed on to a petition this week to force a second vote on Schimming’s future ahead of next weekend’s state convention in the Wisconsin Dells, but after the Heartland Post broke the news of that petition and it was discussed at length on “The Dan O’Donnell Show,” two members abruptly pulled their signatures.
Multiple sources had told the Heartland Post that the members who want Schimming to be removed may be planning a vote of no confidence against him on the floor of next weekend’s convention, which could spark an ugly public fight in full view of delegates and the media.
“There’s no putting on a united front after that,” one source said.
Clearly, though, the RPW Executive Committee is not united behind Schimming, who has faced significant criticism after last month’s 20-point Supreme Court loss by conservative candidate Maria Lazar, the third straight conservative Court candidate to lose since Schimming became chairman in late 2022.
Sources who spoke with the Heartland Post on condition of anonymity revealed that members were dissatisfied with Schimming’s explanations for lackluster fundraising totals during his quarterly performance review during last month’s meeting, prompting the vote to end RPW’s paid chairmanship.
The movement against Schimming had gained momentum until one member called presumptive gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany, who urged caution in replacing the party’s chairman so close to the November election. That convinced several members to vote against the resolution and keep Schimming in place for one more election cycle.
Schimming is also beloved by the Trump White House, which credits him with a successful 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and subsequent Trump win in Wisconsin later that year. RPW Executive Committee members cautioned that with Trump ostensibly behind Schimming, it would be very difficult to justify his removal should the White House get involved.
Still, a sizable faction of the Executive Committee is clearly unhappy with Schimming’s job performance thus far, and it would be surprising if this was the last effort to remove him from his position.
