Recall effort targeting Republican leader in Wisconsin expected to fail

FILE – Wisconsin Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos speaks during a news conference, Sept. 18, 2023, in Milwaukee, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s bipartisan elections commission was expected on Thursday to reject petitions seeking to force a recall election of the state’s top elected Republican, who has drawn the ire of former President Donald Trump.

Trump backers angry with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos launched the recall effort, citing his refusal to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state in 2020. Vos further angered Trump supporters when he did not back a plan to impeach Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top elections official.

Staff at the Wisconsin Elections Commission recommended on Wednesday that the petition be rejected, saying organizers had not gathered enough valid signatures. The commission scheduled a vote for Thursday, when it was expected to officially reject the recall.

Vos dismissed petition organizers as “whack jobs and morons” and said previously that the effort had failed after challenging the validity of thousands of signatures.

Vos is the most powerful Republican in the GOP-led Legislature. He was first elected in 2004 and is the longest-serving Assembly speaker in state history, holding the post since 2013.

Recall organizers, recognizing that their initial effort was likely short of the needed signatures, launched a second recall effort last month. That attempt is ongoing and has yet to be submitted to the elections commission for review.