Tony Evers opposes efforts to block Donald Trump from Wisconsin ballot

MADISON – Democratic Gov. Tony Evers does not support efforts to keep Republican former President Donald Trump off the ballot in Wisconsin, he said this week.

In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Evers said he fears such efforts would only serve to fire up Trump supporters and make them feel the deck is stacked against them.

"My frustration is it gives his supporters a much larger thing to use as, ‘Oh, woe is me, the world is picking on Donald Trump,’ that sort of thing, because I think at the end of the day it's going to be thrown out by the Supreme Court anyway," Evers said. "So it's not that I’m against other states doing it, but I just think it's not helpful."

The bipartisan state Presidential Preference Selection Committee, which is made up of state Democratic and Republican party chairs, majority and minority leaders in the state Legislature, and others, met in the state Capitol on Tuesday to determine which presidential candidates will appear on Wisconsin's primary ballot.

The six candidates named by the state Republican Party include: Trump, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

The state Democratic Party presented only one name for the ballot: President Joe Biden. Author Marianne Williamson and Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips are also running as Democrats.

State law requires the committee to include all names "whose candidacy is generally advocated or recognized in the national news media throughout the United States," and can include additional names.

The names now go to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which contacts the candidates to inform them they will appear on the ballot unless they notify the commission by Jan. 30 that they do not intend to run.

Trump has appealed rulings in Maine and Colorado barring him from their primary ballots. Courts in Arizona, Michigan and Minnesota have ruled against efforts to block the former president.

Kirk Bangstad, a Democratic activist and owner of the Minocqua Brewing Co., has said he plans to file a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court challenging Trump's eligibility for the ballot. Bangstad alleges that Trump violated a provision of the 14th Amendment that disqualifies certain officials who take part in an insurrection from holding office again, based on his actions surrounding violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

He filed a complaint with the elections commission last week, which was disposed of without conisderation because it was filed directly against commissioners, which requires recusal under WEC policies. Bangstad said he's hopeful the case will ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court, which in August flipped to a liberal majority for the first time in years.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tony Evers opposes efforts to block Trump from Wisconsin ballot