MADISON, Wis. — Supporters of an effort to oust Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office over his opposition to former President Donald Trump announced Sunday that they have collected enough signatures to force a recall vote.
Proponents of the recall campaign plan to deliver signatures to the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday and say they have more than the required 6,850 signatures from voters in Vos’ southeastern Wisconsin district.
“With more than 10,000 signatures on our recall petition, they have said it loud and clear: they are tired of the status quo and are demanding new representation,” Matt Snorek, who started the campaign in January, said in a statement.
Vos has dismissed the recall attempt as a waste of time and resources, which he reiterated in a statement on Sunday. He questioned the group’s tactics and the validity of the signatures, promising that a team he assembled would “evaluate each individual signature.”
The recall targeting him highlights the ongoing frustration among Trump supporters in battleground Wisconsin over his loss in the 2020 election and the way Vos responded. That includes how Vos refused attempts by Trump and his supporters to decertify Biden’s victory and how he did not move forward with impeaching Wisconsin’s top election official.
Trump narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016 but lost to President Joe Biden by a similar margin of about 21,000 votes in 2020. The result has withstood two partial recounts, numerous lawsuits, an independent audit and a review by a conservative law firm.
The recall campaign announcement comes Sunday after the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined Friday to hear Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ request to clarify whether Wisconsin’s new legislative district maps apply to elections before November, creating uncertainty about the question whether signatures for the recall attempt should be collected in Vos’s new district.
Snorek said on Sunday that they interpreted the court’s measure as a signal that their efforts in Vos’ current district were correct.
Vos was first elected in 2004 and is the longest-serving General Assembly speaker in state history. He has held this position since 2013.