WI-07: Jessi Ebben (R) fails to keep GOP, Democratic rivals off 7th Congressional District primary ballot
A Republican running for Wisconsin’s deep red 7th Congressional District has lost her attempt to keep two GOP challengers, including one endorsed by President Donald Trump, off the primary ballot in August.
Jessi Ebben claimed a new state law and an old form invalidated thousands of signatures for fellow Republicans Kevin Hermening and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s son-in-law, Michael Alfonso, but the commission unanimously disagreed.
Ebben’s campaign manager Tom Schroeder filed three challenges with the Wisconsin Elections Commission against the campaigns of Republicans Alfonso and Hermening and Democrat Fred Clark. He argued thousands of their signatures, needed to get on the primary ballot, should be struck because the forms they were written on were outdated. Specifically, Schroeder claimed those forms don’t comply with a new law enacted in April that bars out-of-state residents from collecting signatures.
The Republican primary for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany as he runs for governor stands out because Trump’s endorsement of the 26-year-old Alfonso didn’t clear the field. Aside from the president, Alfonso has also received significant help from a new political action committee running ads on his behalf that received a $1 million donation from the campaign account Duffy used when he represented the district between 2011 and 2019.
https://www.wpr.org/news/jessi-ebben-fails-keep-gop-democratic-rivals-off-7th-congressional-district-primary-ballot