Wisconsin AG slams GOP for ‘consistent attacks on our democracy’ after top election official ousted

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) hit back at Republicans in the Badger State on Friday after the state Senate voted to oust the top elections official in the state, claiming “we have had consistent attacks on our democracy in Wisconsin.”

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Kaul said the administration had seen relentless attacks on our election officials in Wisconsin “for years now.”

“What’s really interesting is going back to about 2015, Wisconsin had a nationally recognized Government Accountability Board that oversaw the administration on elections. Republicans were unhappy with them,” he continued. “So they replaced that board with what is now the Wisconsin Election Commission.”

“They then got rid of the first administrator of that commission, and now they’re going after the next administrator of the commission,” he added.

Kaul’s comments one day after the state Senate, which has a Republican supermajority, voted to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, who is a nonpartisan official. 

The push to remove her came amid the backdrop of election skepticism and denialism in the state following the 2020 election results, with some baselessly accusing of her being a part of a scheme to affect the outcome of the last presidential election, according to The Associated Press. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected an effort after the 2020 election to overturn the results — one of several swing states where efforts were made to try to change the outcome of the last election in former President Trump’s favor.

Kaul filed a lawsuit against Senate Republicans’ vote to impeach her and Wolfe has said she’ll continue in her rule amid pending litigation. The Wisconsin attorney general said in Friday’s interview that he was “confident” the suit would be won.

The vote to fire Wolfe comes as Republicans are mulling impeaching liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz should she decide not to recuse herself from several redistricting cases that the state Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in on.