Organizers of an effort to force State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Racine County) to face a recall election say they’ve collected enough signatures and will turn in the petitions Monday morning in Madison at the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Vos is perhaps the most powerful GOP politician in the state. He was a close ally of Gov. Scott Walker (R) and has often tangled with Democratic Governor Tony Evers.
But conservatives have led the recall effort against Vos, mainly because, they argue, Vos has not done enough to support their false claim that Donald Trump carried Wisconsin in the 2020 election.
Racine County activist and recall volunteer Harry Wait sat in the Recall Vos office in Union Grove Sunday and said he fully expects the Speaker to challenge the validity of the signatures. Then, if the election is scheduled, Wait expects a tough battle.
“Well, Vos is a professional politician. So, he is still going to give us one hell of a fight. But, I feel confident the voters are overwhelmingly have spoken, and they’ll come through for the recall and vote the man out of office," Wait said.
Wait said the name of a candidate running against Vos will be revealed soon, perhaps Monday.
Vos issued a statement Sunday saying he’s assembled a team to evaluate every signature. He contends some have been obtained illegally. The GOP lawmaker said it’s "sad people are wasting resources and working with Democrats to settle a political score" and called on Republicans in Racine County to reject "a misguided effort."
The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to start discussing a possible recall election for State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Tuesday.
Vos is perhaps the most powerful Republican politician in Wisconsin —often battling with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
The six-member Elections Commission has announced that discussion and potential action on the Vos recall will be on today’s meeting agenda. At about the same time Monday, recall organizers were dropping off what they said were more than 10,000 signatures from people in Vos’ Racine County district, favoring the recall election.
Key recall organizer Matt Snorek says he expects Vos’ supporters to closely monitor the work of Commission staffers checking the signatures and perhaps file a lawsuit to try to block any recall contest.
“I expect anything from Robin Vos. I think all bets are on the table. Anything’s possible,” says Snorek.
Snorek says Vos should be recalled in a spring election for many reasons, and opponents should not wait until a primary in August or the general election in November.
“Every day he’s in office, he’s costing us more and more money, and costing us you know, more and more of our freedoms,” he says.
Snorek and other recall organizers are making a series of claims against Vos. They include that the speaker should have done more to help Donald Trump with his false assertion that he won the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin, that Vos should press harder for the firing of Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, and that Vos is helping China gain influence in Wisconsin.
Vos has said he will vote for Trump this fall if the former president is the GOP nominee. He’s also supporting an appeal of a court ruling halting a Republican effort to remove Wolfe.
Vos hasn’t responded to the China allegation, but he says his conservative record speaks for itself, and that his conservative critics should use their time to defeat President Joe Biden.
