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A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 13 May 2019

Suddenly starless Wisconsin GOP plots rebuild for 2020

that starts Friday with a plan usual political speeches. ferson said While Republi-
that depends on rebuild- Johnson said that work will cans look inward at how to
ing from the ground up af- create a “grassroots jug- improve, they will have to
ter former House Speaker gernaut” to reelect Trump. move forward without two
Paul Ryan retired and Gov. Wisconsin is among a hand- longtime, prominent lead-
Scott Walker was voted out ful of battleground states ers. For the first time in 20
of office. that could determine the years, when Republicans
“After the November 2018 2020 election. gather for their convention
elections it was a combina- Trump was the first Repub- neither Walker nor Ryan will
tion of shock and a certain lican since Ronald Reagan be in elected office.
level of depression,” said in 1984 to carry Wisconsin, The loss of the governor’s
Sen. Ron Johnson, the only but he did so by less than 1 office is particularly stinging
Republican left in state- percentage point. Reagan for Republicans, as Walker
wide office. Johnson led a was also the last Republi- was the most prolific fund-
post-mortem study of the can to win the state twice raiser in the history of Wis-
In this April 27, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump, right, midterm losses that deter- in a row. Barack Obama consin politics, bringing in
accompanied by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., left, arrives at Green mined more work needed won big both times he ran hundreds of millions of dol-
Bay Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay, Wis. to be done at the local lev- for president, but previous lars for the GOP.
Associated Press el to recruit and train both Democratic candidates Jefferson said one thing the
By SCOTT BAUER party working to rebuild af- volunteers and candidates. won by less than half a state party must address
Associated Press ter the departure of its two Johnson was to discuss the point in 2000 and 2004. is how to spend its money
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Re- biggest stars and a rough report at the convention, “We can win in this state; more effectively, even
publicans determined to midterm election that sent which has taken the theme we’ve done it,” said Re- as everyone agrees the
deliver Wisconsin for Presi- it reeling. “A New Day. A New Party” publican Party activist Bri- Trump campaign intends
dent Donald Trump next The Wisconsin GOP heads and will emphasize train- an Westrate, an insurance to make Wisconsin a prior-
year will be doing it with a into its state convention ing and workshops over the agent from Fall Creek in ity and provide the money
western Wisconsin. “One necessary to compete.
bad election cycle doesn’t Democrats, in a nod to Wis-
mean our conservative consin’s importance in the
philosophy and ideology is presidential race, will hold
dead. We just, perhaps, got their national convention
too far away from all being in Milwaukee in 2020. Their
in the same boat rowing in state convention this year
the same direction.” is June 1.
Mark Graul, a Republican Devin Remiker, the Demo-
strategist who ran George crats’ executive director
W. Bush’s Wisconsin cam- of political affairs, said Re-
paign in 2004, said he thinks publicans have “talked a
Republicans are entering big game” about engag-
2020 ready for an “incred- ing grassroots voters before
ibly tight, tough race” with but failed to follow through.
uncertainty about how it While Republicans were
will play out. dejected after Walker’s
“The sense is nobody’s narrow defeat in 2018, they
quite sure what’s going to have been reenergized
happen next year,” Graul by the win last month by
said. To win in 2020, more conservative Wisconsin Su-
work needs to be done preme Court candidate
to organize at the local Brian Hagedorn.
level, said state party ex- “As down as people were
ecutive director Mark Jef- after November statewide,
ferson. That covers things the Hagedorn win has giv-
as rudimentary as making en us a great amount of
sure yard signs are widely hope,” said Walker, who
available and distributed will be attending a Sun-
and as advanced as us- day prayer breakfast at
ing data analytics to tar- the convention but not the
get likely voters and get bulk of the gathering. “To
people on the ground to win in 2020 we’re going to
knock on their doors, Jef- need that.”q