Robin Vos narrowly defeats primary opponent Adam Steen, barely overcoming Donald Trump's campaign against him

MOUNT PLEASANT - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos inched past his Republican challenger Tuesday, barely overcoming a national effort to unseat him led by the former president of the United States.

Vos, the longest-serving Assembly leader in state history, defeated a little-known Republican challenger backed by former President Donald Trump by fewer than 300 votes — a stunning margin for the most effective lawmaker in the state.

The Rochester Republican's victory over Adam Steen all but ensures Vos will win re-election in the Republican-leaning district in southeastern Wisconsin.

Vos narrowly survived a challenge by Steen that came to symbolize the intense discontent within the base of the Wisconsin GOP that had turned against Vos following the 2020 election, a loss for former President Donald Trump that the former president and his supporters argue could have been overturned by Vos.

Vos has rejected that idea, repeatedly refusing to take the illegal and impossible act of decertifying the election result, but Trump has pressed the case for more than a year — calling Vos out in statements blasted to millions of supporters and endorsing Steen in the final weeks of the primary race.

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On Friday, Trump devoted a portion of his hour-long speech at a rally for Republican candidate for governor Tim Michels to castigating Vos and promoting Steen.

Criticizing Vos became part of base Republicans' identity over the course of the last year, pushing allies of Vos who were running for statewide office to distance themselves. Two candidates for governor launched their campaigns as referendums on Vos. Dozens of county GOP officials passed resolutions calling for Vos' resignation.

The distrust blossomed in January when Vos punished state Rep. Timothy Ramthun over false claims about the 2020 election — a move that helped catapult the Fond du Lac County lawmaker to an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for governor.

The discipline of Ramthun enraged elements of the party faithful who already believed the powerful Republican in the state Capitol was refusing to do everything he can to litigate the last presidential election and saw his actions thus far as inadequate at best and purposefully stifling at worst.

Even former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, whom Vos hired in 2021 to review the 2020 election following heavy criticism from Trump, publicly turned on Vos in recent weeks, endorsing and campaigning for Vos' opponent. In a robocall ad recorded for Steen, Gableman characterized Vos as a roadblock to his taxpayer-funded review that has turned up no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

But Vos, known for his attention to constituents, ultimately prevailed in his primary race.

Vos had harsh words for Gableman on Tuesday at a campaign party with state Sen. Van Wanggaard, calling him "an embarrassment to the state."

Assembly Republicans will soon meet to decide whether to allow Gableman to continue his review, for which taxpayers have spent more than $1 million, Vos said.

"I will not let my joy tonight be focused on a person like Mike Gableman, who isn't worth the time to talk about."

While he said the 2020 election wasn't flawless, Vos said it's time for Wisconsin to start moving forward.

"I think there were problems in the 2020 election. But we cannot go back and overturn the 2020 election by some sort of action by the legislature," he said. "We've got to move forward and that's what I want to make sure people very clearly understand."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin election results: Robin Vos beats Trump-backed Adam Steen