Wisconsin GOP leadership up in the air with calls from exec team for Brian Schimming to resign

The apparent move to oust Schimming comes after months of infighting among Wisconsin Republicans over the direction of the party and its leadership.

• Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said he received a call from an executive committee member “suggesting to me that a majority of the Board is asking for my resignation.”
• Schimming said he has since received “calls of support” from around the state and indicated he had no immediate plans to step aside as the party’s chairman.
• Multiple GOP sources told the Journal Sentinel that Schimming was given 24 hours to resign as party chair, though others said the exact timing of the demand was unclear.
• The apparent move to oust Schimming comes after months of infighting among Wisconsin Republicans over the direction of the party and its leadership.

MADISON – Wisconsin Republican Chairman Brian Schimming’s future as head of the party is up in the air after members of the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s executive committee asked him for his resignation.

Schimming told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he received a call from an executive committee member “suggesting to me that a majority of the Board is asking for my resignation.”

He said he has since received “calls of support” from around the state and indicated he had no immediate plans to step aside as the party’s chairman.

“We’ll have a meeting of the Board to determine what is happening and to ensure the RPW remains an effective organization in a crucial battleground state,” Schimming said, claiming multiple members of the party’s executive committee were not aware of this week’s move to seek his ouster.

Multiple GOP sources told the Journal Sentinel on June 21 that Schimming was given 24 hours to resign as party chair, though others said the exact timing of the demand was unclear.

The apparent move to oust Schimming comes after months of infighting among Wisconsin Republicans over the direction of the party and its leadership following another resounding state Supreme Court race defeat and years of fundraising woes. It falls just over a year before the 2026 midterm elections that are expected to be difficult for Republicans.

Schimming has been under scrutiny by his party in recent months following two consecutive double-digit losses in races for the state Supreme Court that cemented liberal control of the state’s highest court for years. Even with President Donald Trump’s win in November, GOP sources told the Journal Sentinel in May that Schimming could soon face moves to remove him as chairman.

Recently, much of the Republican infighting has come from the northeastern 8th Congressional District, where Republicans clashed over the election of their new district chairman. The new chairman, Ken Sikora, has been openly critical of the state party and has called for new leadership.

Members of the conservative dark money group Turning Point Action, which is expanding its influence in Wisconsin, have also criticized Schimming and the party.

In May, disgruntled grassroots Republicans considered a vote of no confidence in Schimming at the state party’s convention in Rothschild, but ultimately, a vote was not called. The state’s top Republicans at the time sought to tamp down those divisions and issued calls for unity.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson told the convention crowd he had “never seen as many squabbles” during his years in Wisconsin electoral politics. Schimming, for his part, vowed to serve out his new two-year term leading the state party.

Still, some top Republicans in recent weeks have noted the addition this spring of new members to the party’s executive committee, some of whom are seen as opponents of Schimming, put more pressure on Schimming to step aside.

Schimming, who was first elected state party chairman in December 2022, is the Wisconsin GOP’s first paid chair — a move made to prevent turnover in the position and aid fundraising efforts.

From the beginning of 2023 until just before this year’s high court race, though, Wisconsin Republicans raised about $40.9 million across their state and federal accounts as Wisconsin Democrats raked in just over $116.3 million during the same period.

Some executive committee members have floated the idea of making changes to the chair’s compensation, but one committee member told the Journal Sentinel in May that a vote to oust Schimming was more likely to happen than a vote to alter the chair’s salary.

“The compensation is not the issue. The issue is do we have a chairman who is not performing,” the executive committee member said of Schimming at the time. “There are members who are concerned he is not fulfilling the terms of his contract.”

Both Wisconsin Democrats and Republicans in recent weeks have grappled with who should steer their respective ships into the 2026 election cycle, which is already underway.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin chairman Ben Wikler, a fundraising powerhouse, left his post this summer and state Democrats’ former executive director Devin Remiker was picked as his successor.

On Saturday, Schimming told the Journal Sentinel his “support from Republicans across Wisconsin was in evidence at our successful state convention last month.” He did not say when the next executive committee meeting would be held.

And while some executive committee members have quietly discussed removing Schimming, there has been no clear consensus as to who should replace him.