Trump-backed Tony Wied wins GOP primary in congressional seat vacated by Mike Gallagher

Former gas station owner Tony Wied won the Republican primary Tuesday to replace retired U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher following a campaign that leaned almost exclusively on former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Wied, whom Trump endorsed before he formally launched his campaign in April, edged former Appleton state Sen. Roger Roth and handily defeated De Pere state Sen. Andre Jacque in both the special primary election and regularly scheduled primary election. Roth and Jacque called Wied to concede the race late Tuesday.

Candidates for the 8th Congressional District appeared twice on the ballot due to the timing of Gallagher’s early retirement from Congress this year. The special elections triggered by early exit fell on the same days as the regularly scheduled elections.

Wied will face OBG-YN Kristin Lyerly, a De Pere Democrat, in November. The winner of the special general election will serve until Jan. 3, 2025 — the scheduled end of Gallagher’s term — after which the winner of the regular general election will serve a full, two-year term.

“I want to thank the voters for entrusting me with this honor," Wied said in a statement. "I won’t let them down."

Tuesday’s result underscored Trump’s influence in the northeastern Wisconsin House race. Wied, who had never before run for public office, beat out two men who have both represented parts of the district at the state level for more than a decade.

It also means the Republican nominee in the district will stand in stark contrast to Gallagher, a foreign policy hawk who represented the district from 2017 until his retirement in April.

Gallagher at times found himself at odds with the former president. Notably, he was critical of Trump during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. And his vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in February drew the ire of Trump’s base — including the threat of a primary challenge.

Wied, meanwhile, has pledged to give Trump “an ally he’ll need in Congress.” He has declined to say whether President Joe Biden was rightfully elected in 2020 and said he opposes any aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. (Gallagher was the only Wisconsin Republican to support aid to Ukraine as part of a sweeping foreign aid package in April.)

And while Wied gained Trump’s direct support in the race, all three Republicans sought to tie themselves to the former president as they largely aligned on GOP policy priorities in a solidly red district that stretches from Appleton and Green Bay, through Door County and north to Marinette and the Upper Peninsula.

Trump won the district by about 18 points and 16 points in 2016 and 2020, respectively.

Roth endorsed Trump when he announced his bid for the seat and stood by the former president even as Trump labeled Roth “no friend of MAGA” and called on him to drop out of the race. Roth later cut an ad touting himself as a “Trump conservative" who will “stand with Trump to rebuild America,” leading Trump this month to record another video endorsement of Wied in which he again called on Roth to drop out.

Wied, 48, sold the Green Bay-based Dino Stop gas and convenience store chain in 2022 . He had been largely uninvolved in local politics before he was recruited to run for the seat by the Trump-aligned GOP consultant Alex Bruesewitz, who had teased a run of his own following Gallagher’s Mayorkas vote.

Wied met with Trump during the former president’s April rally in Green Bay and brought with him a document titled “Tony Wied for Congress — WI08” that included biographical information. Trump signed the document and publicly endorsed Wied just days later.

He constantly touted Trump’s endorsement campaign and released multiple advertisements featuring the support.

“We need political outsiders who are willing to put Wisconsin families first and deliver America First policies and stand with our next president, Donald J. Trump,” Wied said during his campaign launch.

Wisconsin Democrats on Tuesday painted Wied's win as an example of Trump's grip on the GOP. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler "on a platform of abortion bans, overturning elections, and giving handouts to billionaires while sticking the middle class with the bill." He said Lyerly, the Democrat, "a common-sense, pro-freedom leader who doesn’t think politicians should be overriding people’s private medical decisions."

"Tony Wied’s victory in the 8th Congressional District primary tonight demonstrates the MAGA takeover of the GOP, a turn into full-on Trump-Vance weirdness exactly when Wisconsin wants it least," Wikler said.

Wied withstood a flurry of attacks from Speak Free or Die PAC, a group founded to prop Roth up in the race. The group spent at least $693,000 attacking Wied, $60,000 attacking Jacque and about $275,000 supporting Roth, according to federal election reports.

Among the PAC’s donors is Liz Uihlein, a prominent GOP mega-donor and notable Trump supporter. Uihlein donated $30,000.

Both Wied and Roth held a large fundraising edge over Jacque throughout the primary.

Wied reported raising $859,072 — including a $500,000 self-loan — and had $228,434 in cash on hand as of the end of July. Roth raised $727,550 and had $411,958 in cash on hand over the same period, and Jacque raised $243,689 — including a $16,000 self-loan — and had a little more than $90,000 in his warchest.

Lyerly, meanwhile, raised more than $1 million and entered the primary unopposed with $313,124 in cash on hand.

Shortly after the race was called, Trump called Wied to congratulate him, a source close to Wied said.

And Roth in a post on X said he looked forward "to helping @TonyWied and all WI Republicans win this Fall."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump-backed Tony Wied wins GOP primary in 8th Congressional District