Trump remains the center of attention in GOP race for the 8th Congressional District

MADISON – No name has been more prominent in the Republican primary to replace retired U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher than former President Donald Trump’s.

The Republican presidential nominee directly inserted himself in the GOP primary when he endorsed a candidate in April. And in the months since, all three Republicans have sought to tie themselves to Trump.

“You can’t watch a TV commercial or see a yard sign that doesn’t have Trump’s name on it as prominently as the candidates’,” said former U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, who represented the 8th Congressional District from 2011 until 2017.

“All three of them can hardly say a sentence without bringing Donald Trump into it,” Ribble said.

The former president has continued to play an outsized role in the northeastern Wisconsin House race ahead of Tuesday’s primary election as the three Republicans — former state Sen. Roger Roth, state Sen. Andre Jacque and former gas station owner Tony Wied, whom Trump endorsed — largely align with one another on GOP policy priorities.

Much of the infighting, in fact, has come over which candidate best represents Trump and his goals.

In an advertisement released last month, for instance, Roth touted himself as a “Trump conservative" who will “stand with Trump to rebuild America” — remarks he made despite Trump’s calls for Roth to drop out of the race.

The move drew criticism from Wied, who said Roth was “trying to claim he’s the Trump candidate.” Not long later, Trump cut an advertisement for Wied reiterating his endorsement and again calling on Roth to drop out.

“Tony is a highly successful businessman and America First warrior who is running against RINO Roger Roth, who is no friend of MAGA,” Trump said in the ad, using the term for Republican In Name Only.

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Aides to Roth, however, have claimed Roth is the only candidate to vote for Trump every time he’s been on the ballot in Wisconsin; Wied did not vote in the 2020 presidential primary in which Trump did not face a challenger, and Jacque supported Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign when Cruz won Wisconsin in the 2016 primary.

“It has been a big piece of the puzzle. There’s no doubt about that,” Mark Graul, a Green Bay-based Republican strategist, said of Trump’s influence in the race. “All three of them have worked very hard to align themselves with Trump even though, obviously, Wied has the endorsement — the literal and figurative Trump card, if you will.”

Still, the candidates have sought to differentiate themselves in other ways.

Wied, who sold his Green Bay-based, dinosaur-themed gas and convenience store chain Dino Stop in 2022, had not previously been active in local GOP politics. He’s highlighted himself as the political outsider in the race.

Roth and Jacque, meanwhile, have years of experience in Wisconsin politics.

Roth, whose uncle represented the 8th Congressional District from 1979 to 1997, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2007, ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2010 and eventually joined the state Senate in 2015. He was Senate president from 2017 to 2021 and ran statewide as Republicans’ lieutenant governor nominee in 2022.

Roth has pointed to his status as the only candidate to serve in the military — he is in the Wisconsin Air National Guard and served in Iraq and Afghanistan — and his history representing parts of the district as factors that set him apart.

Jacque, first elected to the state Assembly in 2011 before entering the state Senate in 2019, has also stressed his experience in the district as he’s attempted to paint himself as the most conservative candidate in the race.

He put out an ad late last month featuring himself dressed like a boxer and throwing punches. The 30-second spot says Jacque “crushes establishment RINOs” and will “knock out the woke mob.”

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And while the all three candidates largely agree on Republican priorities like putting a focus on the U.S.-Mexico border, there are areas where the candidates split.

Most notably, perhaps, is on foreign policy.

Roth is the only Republican in the race who said he supports additional aid to Ukraine. He told the Journal Sentinel he would have voted in favor of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as part of a $95 billion foreign aid package that passed the House in April.

“Checking evil dictators like Xi Jinping and Putin is how America can make the world safe,” Roth said. “Any spending measure — domestic or foreign — should be evaluated on its own merits.”

Jacque, meanwhile, said he would have voted in April to pass aid to Israel and Taiwan but not Ukraine. And Wied in a statement said he would have only voted for aid to Israel.

“I have opposed Ukrainian funding from the outset,” Wied said. “We need to do more to address the economic and border issues we have in our own country before taking care of other nations.”

Gallagher was the only Wisconsin Republican to vote for additional aid to Ukraine as part of the supplemental earlier this year.

The three Republicans would likely be a noticeable departure from Gallagher, who was one of Congress' top foreign policy and defense hawks before his early retirement in April.

Jacque, for example, has said he supports withdrawing from the United Nations, claiming the UN "acts against America's interests almost daily" and that it "doesn't deserve one single dime of American taxpayer money." Wied has questioned the amount of U.S. funding to the international organization. And Roth has said the UN has "deep flaws" but speculated that a new Trump administration would "put the UN in its place."

Both Jacque and Roth said they support remaining part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, though they both said other countries should pay their fair share. Asked by the Journal Sentinel, Wied did not say whether he was supportive of NATO, saying only that the U.S. "should not be solely responsible for funding the world's security."

(Gallagher’s decision to retire early means there will be both a special and regularly scheduled election for the seat on Aug. 13 and Nov. 5. Candidates, including De Pere OBG-YN Kristin Lyerly, the only Democrat in the race, will appear twice on the ballot. The winner of the special election will serve until Jan. 3, 2025, after which the winner of the regular general election will serve a full, two-year term.)

Other points of contention have come on issues that Democrats have typically made a focus. Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, attacked Jacque in June over in-vitro fertilization. More recently, abortion came up during a primary debate after Wied reportedly said Jacque was “too pro-life” to win the district.

Ribble, the former congressman, said he believes the primary is a two-way race between Wied and Roth, largely pointing to Jacque’s lagging fundraising numbers.

Federal election reports show Wied and Roth raised nearly three times as much money as Jacque ahead of the primary. Wied reported raising $859,072 — including a $500,000 self-loan — and had $228,434 in cash on hand. Roth raised $727,550 and had $411,958 in cash on hand over the same period.

Jacque, who tapped into his state Senate campaign accounts for money, has raised $243,689 — including a $16,000 self-loan — and had a little more than $90,000 in his warchest at the end of last month.

Still, Graul, the Republican strategist, said he anticipates a close race.

“This is one where it’s going to be fascinating to watch the results roll in,” Graul said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump is front and center of 8th District GOP congressional primary