From left, former Gov. Tommy Thompson and Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming speak to reporters after casting their Electoral College votes for President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday. (Erik Gunn | Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin’s 10 Republican presidential electors — meeting officially Tuesday for the first time since 2016 — cast their votes shortly after 12 noon for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.

Afterward, state GOP Chair Brian Schimming and former Gov. Tommy Thompson cheerfully asserted their party was on a roll and declared that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin was in for a period of soul-searching after having been “completely captured by the left” and taken over by “elitists.”

“I don’t know if everybody realizes this as much as I do, but there’s been a complete transformation of the political parties — in the state of Wisconsin, across this country,” Thompson told a swarm of reporters who gathered in the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee meeting room on fourth floor of the state Capitol.

“The Republican Party is the party of the working man and woman,” Thompson said. “The Republican Party is the party of the downtrodden and the individuals that need help. The Democrat Party has become a party of elitists, and their policies show that. The Republican Party has been out there asking, what are the problems? What are the questions? Inflation, taxes, regulation. They’re also talking about how you can improve schools, education, and Republicans are there, front and center with ideas and answers, and the Democrats have been vacant. They’ve been vacuous in the last four years.”

The press gaggle followed a formal procedure in which each of the 10 electors signed six copies of the papers documenting Wisconsin’s Electoral College votes for Trump and Vance in 2024. The documents will be forwarded to Washington as part of the Congressional procedure in early January certifying the election results.  

In 2020, 10 Republicans also met in the Capitol and signed forms asserting that Trump, then the incumbent president, had  won Wisconsin’s electoral votes in that year’s presidential race. In fact, President Joe Biden had defeated Trump in Wisconsin by about 20,600 votes, and the state’s official electors were Democrats led by Gov. Tony Evers.

Legal ramifications of the Republicans’ 2020 false electors scheme are still playing out. In June, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed felony forgery charges against three people accused of developing the 2020 plan to have false slates of electors vote for Trump. The defendants had their first court appearance Dec. 12.

Asked his reaction to those latest charges, Thompson said Tuesday  prosecutors and the country should move on.

“Isn’t it about time to turn the page?” Thompson said. “I mean, we can fight over the election of 2020 for the next four years. What does it get us? Isn’t about time to say, you know, we’ve had, we’ve had a lot of differences. This is time to start trying to mend ways in solving America’s problems, Wisconsin’s problems.”

“No one is above the law — not lawyers for former presidents or elected officials themselves,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Sarah Abel in a statement responding to the GOP press conference. “We can’t move forward unless we learn from the mistakes of the past, and that includes holding accountable those who undermined our democracy and tried to overturn a free and fair election because they didn’t like the outcome.”

Schimming described the Republicans’ victories this year , in which they captured the White House, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, as evidence that the party connected with voters  outside as well as inside the GOP. And, he added, those voters remain enthusiastic supporters and volunteers who will power the party forward.

“As I travel across the state, the folks that we identified as Trump voters — not just Republicans, but a lot of people who were concerned about the direction of the country — are extremely motivated,” Schimming said.

“Donald Trump is the face of the Republican Party right now,” Thompson said. “We have control of the Congress and the presidency — we got to deliver to the American people,” he added. “It’s up to us now to show America that we’re going to be able to do it, and I’m confident we’re going to be able to do that without any doubt whatsoever.”

Abel pointed to the divided results in Wisconsin, in which Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin won reelection even as Trump was elected by a slim margin and Democrats picked up seats in the state Legislature, to reject the Republicans’ depiction of the outcome. 

“Let’s not pretend that the Republican Party has a monopoly over Wisconsin,” Abel said. “Neither party swept the state in 2024, and the GOP is grasping at straws as they see their grip on power here fading away. Wisconsin Democrats are built to last. We have a progressive identity that exists separately from the leader of our party — and Republicans can’t say the same.”

Thompson, who headed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush, also stood by his previous endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice to head the agency.

Kennedy has been widely criticized for anti-vaccine positions. On Dec. 9, dozens of Nobel laureates released a letter opposing Kennedy’s nomination because of his opposition to vaccines as well as to other public health measures.

Thompson said the suggestion that Kennedy harbored hostility toward vaccines is “misreading what he said,” adding, “I’m hoping what he said is not correct.” Kennedy’s past criticisms of vaccines included the “implied” question, “is that based upon science?” Thompson argued. “I think everything has got to be based on science.”

Thompson said he supported Kennedy because the nominee’s stated goals include improving Americans’ health, ensuring foods are healthier, “trying to make sure that all medicines are based upon science — who’s against that?” and that he favors speeding up the process of approving new drugs. “I’m in favor of all of those,” Thompson said, “and that’s why I support him.”

Asked about Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler’s campaign to head the national party, Thompson joked, “I’m going to contribute to it,” then later said Wikler “is a very good politician” whom he wished well.

Schimming called Wikler “obviously a talented guy,” but asserted that the party needed more dramatic change. “The Democratic Party has been completely captured by the left, and they can’t seem to figure out that that’s part of their problem,” he said. “And if they continue not figuring it out, that’s fine.”

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser | official portrait

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and Assembly Speaker David Prosser died Sunday at 81 after a months-long battle with cancer. 

After graduating from law school in 1968, Prosser spent most of his career working in government, in all three branches. 

The Appleton native worked as a staff member of then-U.S. Rep. Harold Froehlich, as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, and as the Outagamie County district attorney for two years before being elected to the Assembly in 1979. 

He served in the Assembly for nearly 20 years, serving as Speaker of the chamber and as minority leader. In 1996 he left the Legislature to run for U.S. Congress, losing his race for the state’s 8th Congressional District to Democrat Jay Johnson. 

After that loss, Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed Prosser to the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission. 

In a statement, Thompson said Prosser dedicated his life to public service. 

“A man of deep conviction and intense loyalty to our way of life, David knew without citizen service, there was no real democracy and that to avoid the slings and arrows of public life was to surrender one’s convictions,” Thompson said. “He never did.”

Thompson appointed Prosser to the state Supreme Court in 1998. 

In 2011, Prosser held onto his seat, winning a tightly contested election against  JoAnne Kloppenburg by 0.5% of the vote. Prosser’s victory to coincided with a sharp right turn in the state’s politics, with Republicans controlling all three branches of state government. That period also marked a sharp increase in partisanship among the Court’s justices. 

In 2011, as the justices debated the Court’s decision on Republican’s Act 10 bill to limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Prosser of putting his hands around her throat in a “chokehold.” The state’s Judicial Commission filed ethics charges against Prosser, but the case petered out after most of the justices said they couldn’t weigh in on its conclusions because they had witnessed the event. 

Shortly before his retirement from the Court in 2016, the Court’s conservative majority renamed the state’s law library after him. 

“Justice Prosser was the quintessential public servant who enjoyed a respected career (spanning more than 40 years) in the service of others. His exemplary service in all three branches of government demonstrated his unparalleled versatility and dedication to the public good,” Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler said in a statement. “On the bench, Justice Prosser brought a keen intellect and deep sense of fairness to every case, leaving an indelible mark on Wisconsin jurisprudence. He was well known for digging into the books and conducting exhaustive research, often ‘burning the midnight oil’ in the law library. Justice Prosser possessed a critical understanding of, and allegiance to, the rule of law.”

The Court’s now-liberal majority renamed the library after Lavinia Goodell, Wisconsin’s first woman lawyer, in June. 

Earlier this year, Prosser was one of the retired former justices from whom Assembly Speaker Robin Vos sought advice as Republicans called for the impeachment of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. In a statement, Vos said Prosser was a “mentor” and celebrated his career of public service. 

“Dave had a great sense of humor and was always quick to offer advice that was filled with great ideas and common-sense solutions,” Vos said. “He was well-regarded and well-respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. A man of wisdom, Dave listened first, was thoughtful and independent-minded in his decisions. He gained the trust of his colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats. Dave leaves a legacy of service to the state that won’t be matched.”