by Benjamin Yount
The new head of the Wisconsin Republican Party is talking like a Democrat.
Brian Schimming has said in a number of interviews over the past week that he wants to focus on early voting and raising money ahead of the spring election.
Schimming was unanimously elected as Republican Party Chairman on Dec. 10. Since then he’s focused on building the Republican infrastructure and looking ahead to the April election.
“I don’t do change just for change’s sake. I don’t go to knock over furniture just for the heck of it,” Schimming told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But I’m sending the signal not only internally but externally that if it works we enhance it. If it doesn’t work, it goes.”
He said something similar in an interview with WisPolitics.
“I’m not here to milk sacred cows,” Schimming said about his motto at work. “And, if it’s working, we enhance it. If it’s not working, it goes out to the curb.”
Schimming is coming into a Republican Party that reelected U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, added a seat in Congress in western Wisconsin, and continues to enjoy majorities in the state legislature.
But Republicans fell short in almost every single statewide office last November, including the races for governor and attorney general.
Schimming is focusing on the race for Supreme Court in the spring.
That means raising money.
“We need to be raising money in the most cost-effective, focused way,” Schimming said.
He said Wisconsin Republicans don’t have billionaires like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats. He also said he doesn’t have the help of Hollywood.
Schimming also said that Republicans need to do a better job of getting early votes.
“We can’t keep walking into Election Day 100,000-200,000 votes down and expect we’re going to make it up in 13 hours between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.,” Schimming added.
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Brian Schimming” by Brian A Schimming.
