Wisconsin Republicans running for lieutenant governor won't commit to backing a Trump 2024 run

MADISON – Republican contenders looking to unseat incumbent Gov. Tony Evers went to great lengths to court an endorsement from Donald Trump, but their potential running mates took a more cautionary approach to rallying behind the former president.

Of the eight Republican candidates for lieutenant governor, just three were willing to explicitly support a second White House bid from Trump at a debate on Thursday.

State Senators Patrick Testin, R- Stevens Point, and Roger Roth, R- Appleton, both declined to endorse a Trump candidacy in 2024 with Testin indicating he was not focused on the presidential race or its potentially contentious Republican primary.

“I want to get through August 9th before we start talking about 2024,” Testin said.

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Roth took his avoidance of a 2024 endorsement a step further, not only refusing to outright support a Trump candidacy but implying the former president would face a divided primary if he were to run, even as he remains the clear leader of the Republican Party.

“There are going to be a lot of great candidates running for president here on the Republican side,” Roth said. “Our bench is very deep, and if Donald Trump wants to throw his hat in the ring, that’s great, but he’s going to have some stiff competition.”

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Roth was not the only candidate who suggested Trump may not enjoy an uncontested primary should he mount a second bid for the presidency.

Lancaster Mayor David Varnam also referenced a potentially large pool of ambitious GOP hopefuls eager to launch presidential bids regardless of the ex-president’s intentions.

“We have a deep bench on the Republican side, and if he wants to add in, it will be a very interesting race,” Varnam said.

Small-business owner Kyle Yudes and government agency consultant Will Martin also backed off supporting a Trump run with Martin stressing he was “focused on Wisconsin” and Yudes saying he would examine presidential candidates “after we get our freedom back.”

Of the three candidates who openly expressed support for another Trump candidacy, Godsquad founder David King also took a swipe at the former president’s controversial presence on social media, saying he “loved his policies,” but “didn’t like everything he tweeted,” and small-business owner Jonathan Wichmann added he believed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “would be a good option as well.”

Only Fredrick Douglass Foundation ambassador Cindy Werner seemed willing to offer a full-throated endorsement of Trump without floating other potential candidates or distancing herself from his incendiary rhetoric.

“I would say yes because of the policies that President Trump put in place," Werner said “It helped a lot of people.”

The timidity of Republican candidates to throw their full support behind Trump is striking not only when measured against efforts of their ticket-leading counterparts to get his endorsement, but particularly when national polling for 2024 suggests he maintains a commanding grip over the party electorate.

This week Trump-endorsed candidate Dan Cox won the Republican primary contest in Maryland to replace outgoing anti-Trump conservative Gov. Larry Hogan, an indicator that the former president’s network of supporters runs deep even among conservatives in a traditionally liberal-leaning state.

There are signs, however, that Trump’s firewall is cracking.

This summer, a straw poll found 71% of respondents selected DeSantis as their first choice for president compared to 67% backing Trump. Two additional polls found DeSantis defeating Trump by 18 points in his home state of Florida and trailing him by just over three points in the crucial Rust Belt battleground of Michigan.

A survey of Republicans nationwide found nearly half of voters want a candidate other than Trump to run for the presidency in 2024.

Despite their hesitancy to unabashedly unite behind Trump, none of the candidates said they would not support him should he be named the Republican nominee in 2024, leaving the door open for a future endorsement as the next presidential election cycle heats up in the coming months.

The primary for lieutenant governor will be held on Aug. 9. The Democrats also have an Aug. 9 primary for the office between Peng Her of Madison and Rep. Sara Rodriguez of Brookfield.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Republicans running for lieutenant governor tepid on Trump